


Brave Hearts and Rebellious Souls

by sgflutegirl



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Big Bang Challenge, Community: spn_j2_bigbang, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-15
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 03:01:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgflutegirl/pseuds/sgflutegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garden Ridge Prep School for Boys is a place where the rich and powerful send their unwanted and unruly sons. When students Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles find their school - and their fledgling relationship - threatened by a terrorist takeover, they must find a way to save not only their own lives, but those of everyone at GRP.<br/>Based on the 1991 film, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Soldiers_(film)">Toy Soldiers</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the spn_j2_bigbang in 2009.
> 
> I'd first like to thank my artist an_inside_job for her wonderful artwork. Thank you so much! (I'll post a link at the end, as some of it is spoilery.)
> 
> Next, to free_pirate. Thank you for the beta and your insight.
> 
> Last, and definitely not least, wraith816, without whom I probably would never have done this. She was my biggest cheerleader and enabler on this thing. Thank you so much for your indepth critique and suggestions to make this a much better fic that it originally was. You rock!!

Jared Padalecki was used to spending the holidays alone. Ever since his parents had dropped him off at Garden Ridge Prep School, he’d pretty much spent his life there. He never really enjoyed spending all that time alone. However, his senior year, his roommate and boyfriend, Jensen Ackles, made the decision to stay behind and not visit his family. Jared and Jensen spent all their time together, and explored their fledgling relationship.

“Everyone should be getting back here tomorrow. This is our last night alone,” Jensen said.

“I know, and I plan on using it to my full advantage.” Jared had a wicked grin on his face.

“Am I included in your…brilliant plans?”

“Of course you are.”

Jared had planned out the perfect evening. He had managed to sneak off campus earlier in the week, and had stolen a few things he would need. They had found a hidden storm drain on the southern edge of the campus not long after they arrived at the school. It led straight to the main road into town, making it the perfect escape route.

“Candles? Are you turning soft, Padalecki?”

“No! Of course not. It’s just easier to see down here with them, you know? And besides, flashlights would make this a whole hell of a lot harder to do.”

He placed his hands on Jensen’s shoulders, leaned in, and touched his lips with a tender kiss. Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared’s neck, and returned the kiss, although not so gently. Still wrapped in each other’s arms, they worked their way over to the old dusty sofa in the middle of the old basement. They fell onto the sofa with a shared grunt.

Jared briefly broke the kiss. “I plan on making this a night you’ll never forget.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The green, military truck crossed the border into Texas several miles outside of Brownsville. The river was easily passable at this point, and there weren’t supposed to be any patrols this far out. Fortunately, they encountered only a few locals on the Mexican side, who just turned and walked the other way. If they’d been paying more attention, they would have noticed that the driver of said truck was most definitely not Hispanic. They also couldn’t see that there were at least eight other men in the trailer of the truck.

The driver, Jack, used the small back roads until they reached the main highway. He pulled off the road and stopped the truck. He and his passenger exited the cab. They walked around the back and pulled up the large canvas covering. Eight men stepped out. The passenger, Luis Cali, climbed up into the truck. There were several large crates stacked against the walls. He walked up to one in particular. He lifted the top. Inside were what looked like explosives and a detonator. He turned to the driver.

“Perfect! This will do. Are you sure that the judge’s son goes to this school?”

“Yes, without a doubt. It’s also a private school, out of town, and fenced in. It should be fairly easy to take control of the place.”

“That’s good. Everybody, load up!”

“If we keep to the back roads and smaller highways, we should be in San Antonio in five hours,” Jack said.

“Good. Once we get to San Antonio, we can ditch this vehicle. Then we wait. We go in Tuesday morning.”

“Yes, of course.”


	2. Part One

The dorm building, West Hall, was what someone would typically think of seeing at a college. It was four stories and had about thirty rooms on the top three floors. It could house up to ninety students. The Dean of Garden Ridge Prep, or GRP, Jeff Morgan, and the Headmaster, each had a small apartment on the first floor. The school itself consisted of one large building, North Hall, which contained the offices and many of the classrooms. There was a third building, South Hall, which housed the auditorium, library, and some other classrooms. Across from the dorm was East Hall, where the gymnasium and other indoor sports facilities were. In between the buildings was a large open, grassy area that was called the quad. Other features of the campus were the football field and track located behind the gymnasium. The entire campus covered approximately one square mile and was fenced in. There was a large gate with a security guard at the northeast corner. It was the only widely known way in or out.

The last day of Christmas break was chaotic as all the students that had left to be with their families were returning. It was Saturday, and classes didn’t start until the following Monday.

“Come on Jensen, Chris and Steve should be here anytime now.”

“Dude, I’m staying here. I’ve got stuff to do.” He sat on his bed, propped up against the wall, writing something one of his notebooks.

“What’re you working on anyway?”

“Nothin’…”

“Okay…whatever. See ya later.”

Jared closed the door to his room and headed down the three flights of stairs to the lobby. There were people everywhere. In particular, he was looking for Christian Kane and Steve Carlson. The four of them had become best friends and pretty much inseparable.  
He walked down the stairs into the lobby and headed toward the front door of the building. He nearly ran Chris down.

“Sorry, Chris. Didn’t see you there…”

“That’s not a surprise, Jay. Not everyone’s as tall as you!” He laughed half-heartedly.

Jared looked around, kind of bewildered.

“Um…Chris. Where’s Steve? Thought he was heading back with you.”

Chris’ smile faltered. He dropped his head and stared at his feet.

“He’s not coming back.”

“What? Why?” Jared exclaimed.

“Some family emergency. He didn’t know how long he’d be gone, but he said he probably wouldn’t be back this school year. He said he couldn’t tell me anything else.”

“That sucks, man!”

“What sucks?” Jensen walked up behind Jared, nearly startling him.

“Steve’s not coming back.”

Jensen’s somewhat happy mood and expression vanished almost immediately. He hung his head. He whispered. “Yeah…sucks.” He turned around and walked back into the building.

“Dude…what is up with him, Jay?”

“I’m not sure, Chris. He’s been acting kinda strange all day.”

Jared followed Jensen back into the dorm building.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chris headed back inside the dorm. As he reached the steps, Morgan walked up to him.

“Mr. Kane, I need to have a word with you.”

He followed the Dean to a corner of the lobby so they could talk privately.

“What?”

“I just heard from Steve’s mother. I’m assuming that you already know he won’t be coming back this semester?”

“Yeah…so?”

“Well, for the time being, we aren’t going to place you with a new roommate. Just know that if any new students enroll, that may change.”

“Thanks, I guess…” Chris was okay with not having a roommate, but was still upset that Steve wouldn’t be there.

“Everything will be okay. He’ll be back before you know it.”

“I hope so.”

“Okay, well, that’s all for now. We’ve arranged from some of Steve’s things to be shipped back to him.”

“Okay.” Chris turned around, walked up the stairs and back to his room.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared reached his and Jensen’s room. Jensen had been acting strangely all day, and Jared was determined to get to the bottom of his behavior. He opened the door and walked in.

“Um…Jensen…dude…what’s up?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been acting off all day.”

“Off? Look…I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

“No, it’s not! The last time you acted this way, you had just had an argument with your father…”

Jensen stood up, walked over to Jared, and glared at him.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it! Just…just leave me the fuck alone!” He turned around and walked back to the bed.

“Please, Jensen…talk to me.”

“I said no! Just leave it alone.”

Jared didn’t know what to say. At that moment, a thought struck him.

“Is this about last night?”

Jensen looked hurt. He couldn’t believe that Jared would think that this was all because of their last night alone together.

“No…damnit…it’s not! It has nothing to do with last night…” He sat back down on the bed.

“Then what is it, Jensen? You can tell me anything. You know that.”

“I know I said I never would, but it’s my mom’s birthday. I called home and talked to her, but of course, my dad had to butt in. Why can’t he just leave me alone?”

“What the hell did he say to get you all riled up like this?”

“My mom told him about me…um…liking guys…”

“I thought she promised you she wouldn’t say anything! What the hell, Jen?”

“You know who my dad is. No one stands up to him, not even my mom. So I had it out with him. I stood up to the bastard, finally."

“Wow, Jen. That’s great, I think.”

“Yeah, it is, except that now he’s cut me off from everything, even the rest of my family. He didn’t understand how his son can be gay. I’m supposed to be a man, like him. He said he didn’t want to have anything to do with me ever again. That I’m no longer his son.” Jensen looked upset, but also a little relieved.

Jared sat down next to him on the bed. “Isn’t that what you wanted? Not to have anything to do with him?”

“Yeah, but not at the expense of the rest of my family.”

“Look, Jen, give it time. Until then, you’ve got me.” Jared grinned at him. Jensen couldn’t help but smile.

Jared put his arm around Jensen’s shoulders. Jensen leaned over and put his head on Jared’s shoulder.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chris’ room was across the hall from Jared and Jensen’s. He had gone straight to his room as soon as he’d finished talking with Morgan. He had begun to pack some of Steve’s things up and stumbled across his guitar. Chris picked it up. He wasn’t nearly as good at playing as Steve, but he liked to dabble a little. Truth be told, he could barely hold a tune on it. He strummed a few chords, and then placed the guitar down next to him on the bed. He needed to get out of there for awhile. He decided to go across the hall to his best friends’ room.

He knocked on their door, and a few moments later, Jared opened it. Without saying a word, Chris walked right in, pushing past Jared.

“Whoa, Chris. This isn’t the best time.”

“No, Jared, it’s okay.” Jensen looked up at Chris from the bed.

“Y’all, I was about to go nuts, so I had to get out of that room for awhile.”

“It’s cool. I’m feeling much better anyway.” Jensen smiled.

“How ‘bout some food? I’m starved,” Jared said enthusiastically.

“Dude, do you ever not eat? It’s not like you need to grow anymore,” Chris replied sarcastically.

All three of them laughed. It felt good to laugh. None of them had really had the chance all day.

They headed down to the lobby and through the side door that led to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was between the dorm and the main school building. It was a part of the main building, but was attached to the dorm by an enclosed hallway.

It was already lunch time and many of the students were crowding into the room. The three of them stuck together through the lunch line and then sat at their favorite table toward the center of the room. Most of the seniors hung out together, so many were sitting in the same area. At the next table sat Mike Rosenbaum and Tom Welling. Jared, Jensen, and Chris knew them as the asthmatic clown and the star athlete, respectively. Mike was always joking around, and Tom liked to show off his muscles. The six of them, including Steve, hung out from time to time.

After eating, they decided to head out into the quad. Chris stopped by his room and grabbed the guitar, and a notebook and pen, while Jensen grabbed one of his many notebooks and a pen off his desk in his room. They met in their favorite spot: a large oak tree that was located near the gym. There were a couple of picnic tables and luckily one was free. They headed toward it and sat down.

“This isn’t going to be the same without Steve here. He was a much better player than me.”

“Yeah, I’m not such a hotshot player myself. We’ve still got your voice and my words though, so we can still play around a bit.”

“Dude, you can’t write for shit! It’s all sappy crap love songs!” Chris was only kidding; Jensen was a beautiful writer and artist.

“You love my sappy crap love songs and you know it!” Jensen grabbed Chris around the neck and rubbed his knuckles across the top of his head.

“Help! Abuse! Jared, get your boyfriend off me!” He only halfheartedly struggled to get away.

Jared just laughed at the exchange between his friends. After that morning’s revelations, he was more than happy to let them make fools of themselves in front of everyone. He continued to watch as Chris found one of Jensen’s ticklish spots and began to tickle him relentlessly.

It was at that moment that Jared noticed the Dean and Headmaster walking out the front door. He grabbed hold of each one of their shoulders until he got their attentions, then he tilted his head in the direction of the two men. When they looked and saw them, they stopped their play fighting and got up, sitting on the bench. Luckily, to them at least, it appeared that the two men hadn’t seen their antics. They continued on in the opposite direction.

“Y’all, that was close. The last thing I want is to deal with them right now. Dean Morgan is already on my case about sneaking off campus last week. I’m already on probation.”

“Jared, dude, chill. What do you think he would have done? Forbidden any of the students from tickling each other ever again?” Chris smirked.

“Yeah, Jared, chill.”

“Yeah, y’all are right.”

They sat together at the table in silence. Chris picked up the guitar and started to strum the familiar notes of Stairway to Heaven. Jensen rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you know how to play anything else?”

“Um...not really…”

They all laughed. They sat playing, singing, writing, and just having a generally good time. It was the first time in awhile that they had really had a chance to do that. They took full advantage.

After dinner, they headed back to their rooms. Chris decided to hit the bed early, so that left Jensen and Jared alone. Jensen went to his desk and grabbed one of his notebooks and a pencil. Jared had gone straight to his bed and grabbed a book off the floor. Most people didn’t know it, but Jared really enjoyed a good book. This one, The Outsiders, Jensen had given him for Christmas. Jared was so involved in the book that he didn’t see when Jensen had turned around in his chair and began drawing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sunday was a relaxing day for Jared. A trip into San Antonio was scheduled, and most of the students were able to leave if they wished. Since Jared was on probation, he wasn’t allowed. Chris had wanted to leave for a bit, and Jensen was going stir crazy, so they went on the little excursion. This left Jared a good bit of the day to himself.

He waited about an hour, and things had gotten really quiet. He left his room and headed toward the cafeteria. He didn’t go all the way there, though. There was another door that headed into the back of the kitchen area into a small storage room. He went through the door and shut it behind him. He then went to the back corner of the room and moved the rolling shelves, revealing a door in the floor. He pulled on the latch and opened the door. He walked down the steps and pulled it shut behind him. The steps led into a small, bare room. There was a hole in the brick wall across from him and he ducked down and crawled through it. This opened up into a large basement. He didn’t know why it was there, but it was quite large. He figured it could hold the whole student body if need be.

The room had just about anything you’d need if you got trapped in there for an extended period of time. It even had a small bathroom with a shower. The sofa was in the middle of the room, and there were several chairs in different places throughout. There were also some cots that were stacked near one wall, and a few closets with random things thrown in. There was a light switch, but there was a short in the wiring and the lights didn’t work.

Since he had found this room a year before, he had begun to stash things down there that he didn’t want the Dean or Headmaster to find. Most noteworthy were the porno magazines and alcohol. This was the one place he could go on campus that he wouldn’t be bothered. He didn’t know if Dean Morgan knew about it. He probably did, but he never came down there. Jared figured if the Dean knew about it, he just didn’t care. Only three other people knew about the basement as far as Jared knew. They were, of course, Jensen, Chris, and Steve.

This was also the one place that Jared and Jensen could go to truly be alone. There really wasn’t much privacy in the dorm. They had community bathrooms and showers, and there wasn’t much in the way of soundproofing.

Jared sat down on the sofa and began to run through the memories he had of that night two days ago. They had just begun exploring their feelings for each other, and their relationship had just begun to get physical. As Jared sat there, remembering the amazing Jensen’s amazing hands on his dick, he started to get extremely hard. He unzipped his jeans to relieve some of the increasing pressure on his groin. He pulled his boxers down enough to free his dick and it stood fully erect. He closed his eyes and began to slowly stroke its length. He began to stroke faster as he remembered the feel of Jensen’s hand on his dick, the look on Jensen’s face when Jared had pulled the orgasm from him. He started stroking harder and faster, just as he had Jensen. His back arched up from the sofa as the orgasm hit him hard and fast. He fell limply back on the sofa and lay there for a time.

After who knows how long, he got up, and took a shower, cleaning himself up. He then cleaned around the sofa. He looked at his watch and realized that he had been down there for almost two hours.

‘Shit! I must have fallen asleep!’ he thought. He hadn’t done what he had originally gone down there to do. He needed to get to his alcohol stash. He had some work to do. He was also worried that someone would notice he was gone and start looking for him. He got to work on his concoctions. When he was done, he put everything into a duffel bag, ran back up the steps and out of the storage room. He then made his way back to the dorm. No one was around, so he sighed in relief. As far as he knew, the room was still a secret.

Jared did know that certain few other students had stayed at the school for the day. Mike was also on probation, so he headed to his and Tom’s room with the bag. He knocked on the door, and when Mike answered, he pulled one of the bottles out of his bag. It looked like a normal mouthwash bottle. Mike passed him twenty bucks and then he left. He continued on to four other rooms, and then returned to his room a hundred dollars richer.

Jensen and Chris arrived a few hours later to find Jared asleep on his bed with his book lying open next to him. After Chris left, Jensen grabbed the book and placed it on the table. He then crawled into the bed next to Jared. After the long day out, he fell asleep quickly. They both slept peacefully through the night.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Monday morning, classes restarted. Like some high schools, the school day consisted of six class periods. Jared, Jensen and Chris all sat in the back of each class. Jensen paid attention and took notes; Chris paid attention, but spent most of his time doodling out music. Jared slept. He tended to sleep through most of his classes, except math. He actually liked math. Everyone made it through the first day relatively unscathed. Dinner came and went, and they all went back to their rooms.

Jared was sitting at the window when the bell rang. Jensen had been sitting at his desk writing something in one of his notebooks. They turned their lights out, but left a small lamp on. They waited about twenty minutes, to make sure the Dean or Headmaster weren’t lurking about, then Jensen left the room. Ten minutes after that, Jared heard Chris leave his room. He waited another ten minutes, grabbed his duffel bag, and then he left as well. They met in the storage room behind the kitchen and climbed down into the basement.

Jared walked to the small lamp and turned it on, then pulled out some matches from the bag and lit some of the candles around the room.

“So, what’s this big surprise you have for us, Jared?” Chris asked.

“It’s right here.” Jared smiled and placed the duffel bag on the small table. He opened the bag and revealed the large mouthwash bottle.

“Dude, are you trying to tell us that we have bad breath or something?” Chris may have sounded serious, but he had a smile on his face when he said it.

“Y’all, this isn’t mouthwash! Just try it.”

“Okay…whatever you say, dude.”

They each grabbed a cup, which Jared had also brought, and poured a small bit of the liquid into each one. All three of them took a sip at the same time.

“Hey, man! This is mouthwash!” Chris gave him a disgusted look.

“No, it’s not! I only made it to look like mouthwash. Its vodka and Crème de Menthe for color. This way, we can keep alcohol in our rooms and not get caught. I even sold five more bottles of the stuff. Made me a hundred bucks.” Jared smirked when he said that last part.

“Awesome!” Jensen chimed in.

“Please tell me you have an extra bottle of this stuff. I don’t want to have to come to your room every time I want some.”

“Of course.” Jared opened the bag back up and grabbed another bottle, handing it to Chris.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Morgan had been sitting on the couch in his apartment, when he thought he heard something outside the door. He didn’t think much of it at first, but ten minutes later, he heard it again. When it happened a third time, he finally got up to investigate. He was almost ready to turn in for the night, so he was in his pajamas. He grabbed his robe off the back of the bathroom door, and left the apartment. He turned walked out into the lobby of the dorm, and turned the corner into the hallway, just in time to see a figure heading into to the storage room behind the kitchen. He had a pretty good idea of who it was and decided to wait about fifteen minutes before he spoiled their fun. If he was correct, he knew that there would be no harm in waiting.

After about ten minutes, he headed toward the storage room. He quietly walked over to the secret door and lifted it. He then crept down the steps. He didn’t want to alarm the boys. He then made his way to the bottom and then into the hole in the wall. He stayed out of sight for a few moments. He probably would have waited longer if it hadn’t been for him accidentally knocking his foot against something. Jensen was the first to notice the sound.

“Shit, someone’s here!”

“Y’all hide, I’ll try and get rid of the evidence,” Jared instructed the others.

Jensen ran to the bathroom, since it was the closest place he could find. Chris ran and hid in one of the closets.

Jared quickly closed the top of the bottle and tossed it in the bag. He then grabbed it and ran toward the other closet. He was too late though. Morgan stepped out from his hiding place.

“Mr. Padalecki…stop right where you are!”

Jared froze. “Damnit!” he mumbled under his breath.

“Might I ask what you are doing down here after lights out, and what’s in the bag?”

“Um…well…you see sir…I was…”

Morgan grabbed the bag and opened it. He pulled one of the mouthwash bottles out of it.

“Ah…mouthwash. But it’s not really mouthwash, is it, Jared?”

“Sure it is. I was just making sure that my gums were clean and minty fresh.” Jared gave a cocky grin.

“Yeah, I’m sure you were. Now, where are your other two friends?”

“What other friends? I was here all by myself.”

“Yeah, I’m sure about that too. Come out Mr. Ackles and Mr. Kane.”

Reluctantly, they both came out from their respective hiding places and walked toward Jared and Morgan.

“You two may go now. Jared, you stay with me.”

Jensen turned. “Jared?”

“It’s okay…go on…”

After they were gone, Morgan turned to Jared.

“Is this all of it?”

“Yeah…”

“Don’t lie to me. It’ll only make things worth.”

“Fine! I sold a few more bottles to some of my buddies.”

“Okay. You are going to take me to each room and get them back.”

“You can’t be serious! I’ll look like a total dick!”

“Language…and you should have thought about that before you did it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jared was totally dejected. First, he couldn’t believe he had gotten caught. Then, he had to basically rub it in that he got caught. There was also the possibility that his friends he sold them to would get in trouble too. He was in deep shit.

The first room they went to was Mike and Tom’s. Morgan knocked on the door, and very loudly said, “Mr. Rosenbaum and Mr. Welling, Jared Padalecki sold you a bottle of vodka that looks like mouthwash. If you hand it to me before the count of five, you won’t get in trouble.”

The door immediately opened and a hand reached out with the mouthwash bottle. As Morgan grabbed it, the door closed.

“Look, sir, it’s bad enough that I have to do this, but having you here is making it a hundred times worse.”

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal. You bring me the rest of the bottles, to my apartment in ten minutes, and I’ll just wait for you there.” He held his hand out for Jared to shake.

Jared looked suspicious, but reached out anyway and grabbed his hand and shook it.

“Deal.”

“Ten minutes, my apartment.”

“Whatever…”

Jared grabbed the bag from Morgan, and began to run toward the next room. Morgan turned and headed back to his apartment to wait.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on Morgan’s door. “Come in. It’s unlocked.”

Jared opened the door, walked over to the table, and threw the bag on top of it.

“That’s it!”

“Good, I believe you. Now, I want to have a little talk with you.”

“About what? You ready to kick me out yet?”

“No, Jared, I’m not going to kick you out. Three other schools already did that. No. I’m gonna keep you here until you graduate, which, surprisingly, may not be as long as you’d think.”

“So…what does that mean then? You’re just letting me go?”

“Oh no, Jared! You aren’t getting off that easily. I’m giving you kitchen duty, because I know how much you love kitchen duty.” He had a big smile on his face.

“Yes, sir…” Jared’s shoulders slumped, and he hung his head. “How long?”

“For a month, and then we’ll see.”

“Okay…is that all?”

“Yeah…you can go on back to your room.”

Jared slowly walked out the door and closed it behind him. He made his way back up the stairs and to his room.

When he walked into the room, Jared noticed that Jensen was still awake, so he walked over to his bed and sat down.

“Did he kick you out?”

“No, he just put me on kitchen duty. I really hate kitchen duty.”

“Could have been worse.”

“Not by much.”

Jared began to pace in front of the bed. He stopped suddenly and turned to Jensen.

“Dude, we gotta do something. Something epic! Or else, I’ll look like a total douche to the whole school!”

“Man, I’m tired, and we’ve got a test in the morning.”

“Come on! Get dressed! You know you want to. Guilt by association. If I look like a douche, you look like a douche.”

“Okay…what do you have in mind?”

“I’m still thinking about it. Like I said, it has to be epic.”

“Hmmm…how about cherry bombs in the toilets?”

“Hell no! Too destructive. Oh wait…I’ve got! We’ll need Chris in order to get this done.”

“What is it?” Jensen gave Jared a questioning look.

“You’ll see.” Jared just gave one of his goofy grins.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jensen and Chris waited outside the Headmaster’s office while Jared crawled through the vent into the office. This particular part of the ventilation system led from the bathroom at the side of the cafeteria and made its way into the main building. It was also larger than normal ventilation systems as it was much older. This wasn’t the first time he had snuck into the office (there was that one time when he stole the test key for his English class). Once he made his way into the office through the vent in the ceiling, he unlocked the door, and let the rest of the guys in. They quietly went to work. When they were finished, Jared, with the other’s help, closed the vent cover, making sure that it stayed unlocked. Within a couple of hours of them starting, they were back in their rooms asleep. This prank would indeed go down in history as epic. It would be hard to top.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was around 8:00 the next morning and Morgan was getting ready to head into town. He was putting Jared’s ‘supplies’ in the trunk of his car when a student ran toward him.

“Dean Morgan! The Headmaster needs you right away, in the quad.”

“Okay…tell him I’ll be right there.” He closed the trunk and made his way toward the quad.

Morgan walked up behind a large group of students who were looking at something. He could see what until he made his way through the crowd. In the middle of the group he saw the Headmaster, surrounded by all the contents of his office. Everything had been moved and replaced in the center of the quad, exactly how it had been in the office, even down to the coffee cup on his desk.

“Good morning, Jeff. Please, try not to laugh.”

“I’m trying.”

“It’s amazing. Everything is exactly how I left it last night. Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

“I have a pretty good idea.”

“Jeff, don’t be hard on them. I’ll give them this. This is much more creative, and less destructive, than cherry bombs in the toilets.”

Morgan turned to the crowd and to one group in particular.

“Mr. Padalecki, Mr. Ackles, and Mr. Kane, please come forward.” They all stepped forward. “I’m assuming that you are the only ones that had anything to do with this?”

“Um…yes?” Chris confessed.

“Good! I’d hate for your bad influence to rub off on some of your other friends.” He gave a glimpse over to Mike and Tom, who stood nearby. Morgan knew that they hung out from time to time.

“Okay, you’ve gotten away with it this time, but I want the three of you to move everything back into the office where it belongs.”

“Yes, sir!” They all said in unison. Jared gave Morgan a mock salute.

“Okay, everybody…there’s nothing left for you to see here.”

As everyone began to move away and the three guys started moving things back where they belonged, Morgan walked back to his car. He drove to the front gate, waved to the security guard, and pulled onto the main road into town.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

At 9:00, a large delivery truck arrived. This wasn’t an unusual event at GRP as most deliveries were made early in the week. Since this was a regular occurrence, no one noticed when instead of delivery men with dollies and boxes, large men with guns piled out of the back.

Most of the students were in the cafeteria eating breakfast. None of them were paying attention when a couple of men walked into the room. That changed quickly, when one of the men raised a gun and fired a few shots into the ceiling. Everyone in the room jumped and then went quickly to the floor, most crawling under their tables.

The guys had been sitting toward the center of the room. Jensen leaned out into the aisle and got a good look at the man who had shot up the ceiling. He recognized the gun he was holding. He looked at the other door into the room and noticed there was another man standing there. He was not holding a gun. That man began to speak. He was Hispanic, but spoke excellent English.

“I am now in charge. You do as I say and nothing bad will happen to you. Now, I want you all to stand up and move to that wall.” He pointed toward the back wall.

Slowly, everyone began to stand and walk toward the wall. Once there, three of the gunmen began to walk along the line of students. Each was holding a picture, and they were comparing it to each of the boy’s faces.

As one of them walked by Jared, he caught a look at the picture. He whispered to Jensen, “Hey, that’s a picture of Steve. What the hell is going on?”

When the men were finished walking the group, they each went to the supposed leader. One of them said, “He’s not here.”

The leader cursed something in what sounded like Spanish, and then turned to one of the other men at his side. “How could this happen? We were told he would be here.”

The man said, “We were in transit, and then out of contact. There was no way for my man to get word to us.”

“Get me the files on these kids. Maybe we still have some leverage. I’ll join you in the office shortly.” He then turned to the stunned students. “Take a seat. We may be here awhile.”

Everyone did as they were told. The man then turned to two of his other men and whispered something to them so that no one else would hear. They left the room. Several minutes later, they could be seen carrying several wires with them. The leader then stood up and began to address everyone in the room.

“You see these wires being placed around the room? They are also being placed throughout the school buildings. They lead to a very large detonator. If anyone tampers with the wires, the bombs will explode! The only other way to detonate the bombs is by this control on my wrist. You do everything I say, and I will have no reason to press this button.”

He held his wrist up so everyone could see it. At about the same time, a small red light came on at the top of the controller.

“See, it is now connected.”

He turned to one of his men, whispered something to him, and headed toward the door into the main building. He turned toward the students.

“No harm will come to you as long as you do as you are told.”

He turned again and left the room.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Garden Ridge was a small town, and the school was about ten minutes outside of it. The closest major city, San Antonio, was only twenty minutes on the other side of town from the school. As Morgan continued his drive, he started thinking about everything that happened last night. He knew Jared was a good kid, he just needed direction. He never really had that growing up.

He arrived at the Sheriff’s station and parked his car. He got out and walked around to his trunk, unlocked, and opened it. The sheriff must have seen him coming, because when Morgan turned looked up from the trunk, he was staring right at him.

Jim Beaver had been the Sheriff of Garden Ridge for the past five years. He had become well acquainted with Jeff Morgan and his ‘kids’ at the school.

“Good morning, Jeff.” Jim was not happy to see him.

“Well, good morning to you too, Jim.”

“Ya here about one of your boys, again?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. I was hoping I could find out why one of my boys was able to acquire enough vodka to fill all these mouthwash bottles?”

“I do know that someone stole some vodka from the liquor store a few days ago. Just found out. I was actually about to head out your way.”

“Your brother owns the liquor store, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, and your point is?”

“I’m not sure it was stolen. How could he have gotten out with so much without being seen?”

“Now, you wait one minute!”

“How bout this? I’ll give you these, and we’ll just forget anything happened, alright?”

“I don’t like this one bit, but fine. We’ll do it your way, but if I catch any of them boys stealin’, I won’t be so easy.”

“That seems fair.”

Morgan leaned into the trunk to grab the box when one of the Sheriff’s deputies ran up.

“Sheriff! Just got a call into 911. The caller reported hearing shots out at GRP.”

“What?!” Both the sheriff and Morgan yelled at once.

“That’s all we know.”

Jim turned to Jeff and told him to follow in his car. They jumped into their cars and headed out of town and toward the school.


	3. Part Two

By the time Sheriff Beaver and Dean Morgan arrived at the main gate of the school, all was quiet. They both pulled their cars up as close to the gate as they could and stepped out. They both approached the gate and were greeted with gunfire. They both ran and ducked behind the sheriff’s car.

“Damn. I don’t know what the hell’s goin’ on in there, but we’re not equipped for this kind of thing.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“I’ve got some calls to make.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When the leader reached the Headmaster’s office, he went straight to the desk where the files were stacked. He sat down in the chair and began to leaf through them one by one. He had no idea how important these kids’ parents really were.

“Jack. We may have some leverage here after all,” he said to his American counterpart.

“Shouldn’t we call the authorities with our demands?” Jack asked.

He pointed to the files on the desk. “Let me finish with these first. I want to know what all we are dealing with.”

“Yes, of course.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As soon as the gunmen were sure that they had all the students rounded up, they escorted them all back to the dorm. They were all taken up to their rooms to grab a few things and then gathered on the third and fourth floors. They were then split into groups of six to seven and put into rooms. This way, it would be easier for the gunmen to keep an eye on everyone.

Somehow, Jensen, Jared, and Chris were able to stay together. They were placed in a room with Mike, and Tom, as well as the original inhabitants, Chad Michael Murray and Gabriel Tigerman. The room was covered with movie posters and electronics equipment. There were model cars and airplanes scattered throughout.

“So, this is y’all’s room?” Jared asked the two younger boys.

“Yes, this is our room,” Chad stated.

“Well, it’s our room now.”

Jared went to the first bed, motioning Jensen to join him. Mike grabbed the second bed, and Tom followed him. Chris grabbed a spot on the floor between the closet and one of the beds. This left the two younger boys to make do with whatever leftover space there was.

“Thanks a lot.” Chad was less than pleased.

“You’re welcome,” Jared chimed in with a smile.

Tom looked at the two younger boys. He had seen them around, but didn’t really know them.

“So, I’m Tom! Who are you?”

Chad spoke up immediately. “Name’s Chad. This is Gabriel. And we know who y’all are. Everyone knows the seniors.”

“Hey, Jensen, ya hear that? We’re famous!”

“Oh, and kiddos, we like our privacy, if you know what I mean.”

Chris groaned. “Geez guys just warn me if y’all are gonna need privacy. I’ll go hide in the closet or something.”

“No problem Chris. Or you know, you could just join in the fun.”

“Um…no thanks.” He looked at Chad and Gabe, seeing the look on their faces. “The kiddos and I will just go wait in the hall. Oh yeah, we can’t do that, there are guns trained on the doors at the moment. Don’t think they’ll take kindly to us just waltzing out there and hanging out.”

“We’ll try to contain ourselves.” Mike chimed in for the first time. At this point, everyone broke out into riotous laughter, Chad and Gabe excluded.

“Oh come on guys, don’t you know a good joke when you hear one?”

They looked at each other, and then at the rest of the older boys. They seemed to relax a little. Gabe turned to Chad and whispered, “I’m not entirely sure they were joking.”

Chad returned the whisper, “Me either.”

They all relaxed into easy conversation and banter. They all got to know each other a little better. Chris was excited to learn that Tom’s father played for the Dallas Cowboys and there was a good chance they would be going to the Super Bowl later that month. Chris told them about his father being a big record producer, and hoped that he’d be able to record an album someday. Chad’s father was a developer at a software company, and Gabe’s father was an ambassador to a South American country. He didn’t really go into a lot of detail. Mike’s father was the CEO of a major oil and gas company based in Houston.

When Jared and Jensen were asked about their families, they both stopped smiling and got real quiet. Chris piped in, “We don’t talk about that. Sore subject for both of them.”

“Its okay, Chris,” Jared said. “Neither one of us really has a family anymore. Mine doesn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. They just sent me here and forgot about me. They’ve got more important things to worry about, with their constant traveling and such. Hell, I’m not even sure what it is they do. I haven’t talked to them once since I was left here.”

“My father doesn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore because he found out I was gay. He also won’t let me have any contact with this rest of my family, so we’re basically in the same boat.”

“We’re each other’s family. Heck, the closest thing we have to a father right now is Dean Morgan.” That put a smile on their faces.

“Wow, guys, we’re sorry we brought it up,” Tom apologized.

“It’s okay, I guess. Actually feels a little better to talk about it.” Jared seemed to bounce back rather quickly. Jensen, on the other hand, was still down. Jared put his arm around his shoulders and placed a light kiss on his forehead.

“So…um…how long have y’all been…together?” Gabe asked timidly. Chad elbowed him in the side. “What are you doing?”

“No, it’s cool. No telling how long we’re going to be roomies. Let’s get everything out in the open,” Jared said coolly. “We’ve been roommates for two years, since I got here. We hated each other at first.”

“Oh, god did we ever!”

“But after a few months, we decided, to our mutual benefits, that we should at least try to get along. Plus, Jensen here is way smart, and he’s good at English. He is a song writer, after all.”

“Shut up…”

Jared giggled. “I was good at math, so we did each other’s homework. Then we began to hang out more outside of our room. After awhile, one thing led to another and well…”

“There’s a lot more to it, but that’s it in a nutshell. There are still times when I can’t stand to be around him, like when he gets us all in trouble.”

“Hey, y’all still owe us our twenty bucks back!” Mike jumped in.

“Yeah, whatever. I still tend to get myself into more trouble than any of you. It’s what I’m good at, or so I’m told. And I’d never intentionally get any of y’all into trouble, especially you Jensen.”

“I know. Besides, some of the stuff can be fun.” Everyone looked at Jensen and then broke out into riotous laughter once again.

“Okay…how about y’all?” Chad directed at Mike and Tom.

“Oh, we’re not together.”

“Sure you’re not!” Jared joked.

“Um…okay…fine…a little over a year now,” Mike said. “And it’s been the best time of my life. Great sex and…”

“Whoa…way more info than we needed, thanks!” Chris jumped in quickly. “I don’t think any of us want to hear about your sex life.”

Tom was a red as the t-shirt he was wearing. He punched Mike in the arm and glared at him.

“Okay, sweetheart, I was just boasting about how wonderful you are. No need to hit me.”

Tom continued to glare, but there was a hint of a smile coming across his face. Things were still good.

They then broke back into more easy conversation for awhile. Before they knew it, the sun was beginning to go down. They were then greeted with a pounding on the door. Gabe got up and answered the door.

“Come with me. Time to eat.” The man continued to point the gun into the room.

They filed out of the room one at a time. Jensen staying close to Jared and Tom staying close to Mike. The others hung back a little. They were soon joined by other students on the floor and were all herded back to the cafeteria.

Once everyone had their food and was seated, the leader walked into the room. He then began to count all of the students. As soon as he was done, he left the room, leaving the students and Headmaster with just three of the other gunmen. They were given thirty minutes and then led back to their rooms.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Sheriff’s station was bustling with activity. As soon as Sheriff Beaver and Jeff had made it back to the station, the sheriff had made several phone calls. Within an hour, agents from the FBI and Army officials had crowded into the small building.

Lead FBI special agent Charles Whitfield was trying to get everything organized. He, along with Army General Fred Lahne and Sheriff Beaver were standing together in the center of the room when one of the phones rang. Everyone got quiet.

“Are the trackers in place?” Agent Whitfield asked.

“Yes, sir,” a voice said from the crowded room.

“You may answer the phone, Sheriff.”

He picked up the phone. “Garden Ridge Sheriff’s department, this is Sheriff Beaver speaking.”

“This is Luis Cali, and as you probably already know, I am now in charge of the school.”

“Yes, we know.”

“I have a list of demands that I would like met. If everything is done as I say, no one will be harmed.”

The sheriff pushed the speaker phone button so that everyone in the room could hear.

“Okay…I’m ready.”

“First and most importantly, I want my father, Enrique Cali, released from prison. Second, I want him brought here to the school. Third, I want transportation for me, my father, and my men to the closest airport. There, a plane should be waiting for us with one million American dollars on board. Is that clear?”

“Yes, very clear.”

“You have three days to comply with my demands.”

“That’s not a lot of time.”

“It’s plenty of time, especially since you already have the FBI and probably the Army there with you. I’m not stupid.”

“Mr. Cali, this is Special Agent Whitfield with the FBI. Like the sheriff said, three days isn’t a lot of time to set this kind of thing up.”

“You will do as I demand, or I will start killing hostages.”

“There is no need for violence. We would like to end this peacefully.”

“As would I. As a show of good faith, I will release the teachers in one hour. I do hope this is satisfactory.”

“Yes, of course.”

“You should also know that I have the school wired with explosives. If anyone tampers with them, they will go off. I have the only control mechanism on me at all times.”

Cali hung up the phone, leaving everyone in the sheriff station in silence. For the first time since arriving, Jeff spoke up. “So, now what do we do?”

The General was the first to speak.

“I have sent a squad of men to set up a command center about a mile from the school. We will base all operations there. You, Mr. Morgan, are to stay out of the way. The last thing we need is for you to get in to trouble.”

“Excuse me general, but I know that school and those boys like the back of my hand. I think I could be of help.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said Agent Whitfield. “He could give us some good intel.”

“Very well. Let’s head out. Morgan, just stay out of the way till we need you.”

“Yes, sir.” After the general turned away, Jeff gave him a mock salute, much like the one Jared had given him that morning.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“I really hope that this isn’t all we get to do while they are here. I’m gonna go crazy if I have to stay locked up in this room with all you guys,” Chris said.

“What, you don’t like our company or somethin’?”

“No, it’s just that if we aren’t allowed to take showers anytime soon, it’s gonna get awfully rank in here.”

“Oh…yeah.”

“So, now what?” Gabe asked matter-of-factly.

“Well, we need to figure out what they are planning. Then one of us needs to try to get out of here and get all the information to the people who can help us.”

“And how are we supposed to do that, Jared?”

“Piece of cake, guys! All we have to do is get eyes on all of them and find out what kind of guns they’re carrying, that kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, Jensen, piece of cake, right,” Tom said sarcastically.

“Yes, exactly. And maybe if we can get our hands on one…”

“Get our hands on a gun? Are you nuts, Jensen?” Jared looked at him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Look, the guy in the hall is all alone. We could take him. With his gun, we could get outta here.”

“You are nuts! This fascination with guns must run in mafia families,” Mike countered.

“What the fuck did you say?” Jensen was pissed.

“Whoa, dude! I was just joking!”

“That’s not funny!”

Jensen began to advance on Mike. Jared stepped between them, facing Jensen.

“Hey, Jen, it was just a joke. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He looked around Jared at Mike. “I’m sorry I lost it. I guess we’re all under a lot of stress. Just don’t ever bring that up again.”

“Yeah, sure Jensen.”

“Okay, guys, we need to figure this out so we can start in the morning.”

“I have an idea!” Chad chimed in. It was the first time he had ventured to break into the conversation.

“Um…okay…what is it?” Jared asked.

“I managed to get an up close look at that remote control on the leader’s wrist. If it’s like most other remotes, it should have the same chip in it as my remote for my airplane.”

“Okay…so?”

“So…if we can switch the chips, then…”

“Wait, you’re saying that if we switch the chips, then he’d control the plane with his wrist thing, and we’d have control of the bombs?”

“Exactly!” Chad smirked.

“And how do you expect us to do that?” Chris looked at him skeptically.

“Yeah, Chad, how do we get the chip out of his wrist thing without him knowing? I don’t see it happening,” Tom added.

“Well, the reverse is also true.”

“What the hell do you mean, the reverse is also true?” Jensen asked.

“You can take the chip out of the plane and replace it with the chip in the detonator.”

“Oh, okay, so all we have to do is get into the Headmaster’s office, the place the leader hardly ever leaves, and switch the chips.”

“Yes! It’s brilliant! We already know how to get in there; we just have to wait until he’s out of the room.” Jared was getting excited.

“Jared, how are we gonna do that?”

“I’m still working on that. First, though, we have to get as much info to the good guys outside. Here’s what we have to do.”

They huddled together around the bed and worked out the game plan. They would each take shifts taking food to the numerous gunmen around the school. Jensen would carry his notebook around with him and sketch everything he could; floor plans, terrorist locations and faces, weapons, and anything else that it seemed would help.

Gabriel, or Gabe as they all called him now, was also into electronics and languages. He knew some Spanish and was able to help them identify some of the names of the gunmen, and some of what they were saying. He was able to tell them the names of five of the terrorists: Julio, Ruiz, Carlos, Jorge, and the leader, Luis Cali.

Over the course of the next day, Jensen had a whole notebook full of sketches. He was able to sketch the faces of six of the gunmen, including Luis and the American member of the crew, Jack. He had also drawn pictures of the buildings, the location of the dorm room they were in, the layout of the entire school, and the numerous weapons that the men had at their disposal.

They were all staying in Chad and Gabe’s room now, so Chad grabbed his yearbook from the previous year. It was one with the picture of the school inside the front cover. They drew circles around each place that the gunmen were stationed, and how many were at each place. They tore Jensen’s sketches out of the notebook and placed them inside the front cover. Jared placed it on the table next to one of the beds.

“Okay, tomorrow I make a break for it.”

“Just be careful…and don’t get us killed.” Jensen slapped him on the shoulder, and then walked over to his makeshift bed.

Jared looked over in Jensen’s direction. I’d never do anything to hurt you, he thought.

It wasn’t long before everyone was asleep.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The plan was fairly simple: to get the information they collected to the authorities. All Jared had to do was get to the storm drain, find help, hand over the info, and get back to the school without getting caught.

“This is crazy! You’ve only got less than hour to get there and back!”

“I know, Jen, but I have to do this. We had this all worked out last night. What’s wrong with the plan now, all of a sudden?”

“Nothin’, I’m just worried is all.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Jensen grabbed the yearbook and the pictures he had drawn and handed them to Jared. He pulled up his shirt in back and stuck it in the waistband of his jeans. He pulled the shirt back down to hide the book. He then looked over at Chad and Gabe. Chad held the model airplane. Chris, Mike, and Tom stood around, blocking any view the gunmen may have.

“Hey Chad, you sure this is going to work?” Mike was a little skeptical.

“Of course, man. No worries.” Chad had a goofy grin on his face.

Jared turned to Tom. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Tom held onto the football he was about to heave at one of the first floor windows of the main building.

“Okay…let’s run through this again. Tom will….”

“Dude, we’ve run through this enough. I’m ready to go. We only have an hour before head count. If I don’t leave now, I won’t have any leeway in case something goes wrong. Don’t worry, Jen, everything will be fine!”

“Yeah …just be careful.”

“I will.” Jared leaned in and placed a kiss on Jensen’s forehead.

Tom and Chris walked a little further out into the quad. Chris ran out about twenty feet, as if he was going to catch the ball Tom was about to throw. Jared, Jensen, and Mike walked toward the side of the building. There were a set of steps there and a locked door.

Tom threw the ball. He purposefully missed Chris’ open hands, and the ball hit and shattered one of the windows in the front of the building. At the same moment, Jared, using a towel he had wrapped around his arm, broke one of the windows in the locked door. He then reached in, unlocked the door, and entered the building. Jensen and Mike stood together, blocking the view of the door. Once Jared had reclosed the door, they both walked back to the corner of the building. They were joined by Chad, Gabe, and Chris. Tom was still over where he had broken the window. They each looked at their watches. Time was ticking. Jared now had fifty minutes before their next head count.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared headed down the hallway and into one of the classrooms. They picked this one because it had one of the few windows that opened wide enough for Jared to fit through. He went through and dropped down onto the ground as quietly as possible. He shut the window with the towel stuck in it so that he’d be able to open it up when he got back. There was a bush that was about 10 feet out from the building. It was big enough to hide his large frame and gave him a good vantage point of the roof. He ducked down then ran to the bush. He turned around and looked toward the roof. The two men were pacing the roof. He waited until they were facing the other way then made a run for the tree line. He didn’t stop running until he got the storm drain. He stopped to catch his breath, and looked at his watch. He still had forty-five minutes till head count. He looked back in the direction he had come. Seeing nothing, he turned to the grate over the drain. He pulled it open. There was about four inches of water in the bottom of the pipe, so he had to be careful not to step or fall into it as he made his way through the pipe. Once on the other side, he pulled the yearbook from his waistband and began to walk in the direction of the camp. He didn’t make it far. Two armed soldiers came out of the trees and held guns on him.

“Whoa!”

“Son, you’re coming with us.”

“No, I have to get back! I just had to get these to you.” He tried to hand the yearbook and sketches to one of the men.

“You can give that to the General when we get you back to camp.”

“You don’t understand. If I’m not back in thirty-five minutes, they’re going to kill four hostages!”

“If you go back, they’ll kill you.”

They led Jared back to the camp.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The encampment was located just off the main highway headed back into town. It was about a mile out from the campus, but there were soldiers stationed all along the fence line. When Jared arrived there, one of the first people he saw was Dean Morgan. Jared ran up to Morgan. He handed him the yearbook and sketches.

“This is all the info y’all need. It’s the locations and names of all the gunmen, and some sketches of ones that we were able to see. I have to get back. I only have twenty minutes till they start the headcount. I can do it if I leave now!”

Before Morgan was able to say anything, the General exited the large tent.

“You aren’t going anywhere. We have to get you back to town.”

“No! I have to go back now! They’ll kill five people if the head count is off!”

“They’ll most likely kill you if you go back.”

“I have to go back, now!"

Morgan put his hands on Jared’s shoulders to try and calm him. He whispered so no one else could hear what he had to say.

“Go, I’ll take care of the rest. Just wait for a signal.”

“Signal?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then go.”

Jared took off running. The minutes were ticking away, and he was getting more and more worried that he wouldn’t make it back in time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jensen was getting extremely worried. Each of the guys kept looking down at their watches. There was less than fifteen minutes left before they would all be herded back into the cafeteria and the head count would begin.

Chris motioned to Chad. It was time for the third part of the plan. Chad sat his model airplane on the ground. He flipped the power on and then stepped back. Using the remote controller in his hand, he powered it up and then it lifted off. Chad guided it through the air all around the quad. The whole idea was to distract the gunmen long enough for Jared to sneak back into the group.

Chad guided the plane toward the nearest terrorist. He judged wrong and nearly ran the plane right into him. The man saw it coming and was able to knock it out of the air. The plane came crashing to the ground with a loud thud. He walked over and picked it up. He turned toward Chad and walked in his direction. When he got to him he yanked the controller out of his hand. He then walked toward the building. It was at that moment that Jack exited and motioned for the students to make their way to the cafeteria. There was still no sign of Jared.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared made it back to the storm drain. He was in much more of a hurry this time, and he slipped. He fell down face first into the water in the bottom of the pipe. He was now soaked from head to toe. He didn’t have time to worry about it. So, he got up and ran as fast as he could back to the edge of the tree line.

He paused as he got to the last tree. He looked at his watch. He had two minutes to the head count. There was no way he would make it back in time. He looked up at the roof. The two gunmen were facing in his direction, so he couldn’t move. He was stuck there for nearly five minutes. As soon as they turned, he made a run for it. He slid to the window, opened it up, and pulled himself inside.

He was soaking wet, and he tried to figure out what to do. He looked down at the towel in his hand and a plan came together. As he made his way toward the hallway, he stripped out of all his clothes. He then wrapped the towel around his waist and ran toward the cafeteria.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Eighty-seven, eighty-eight, eighty-nine…” Cali looked angry. He had warned the kids that if the number was off that he would kill five of them. He decided to count again. He really didn’t want to kill any of them, but he wouldn’t have a choice.

He finished the count once more and still came up with only eighty-nine.

“I told you what would happen!” He walked in front of the students. He randomly selected four boys and told them to stand against the wall.

As two of the gunmen lined up and pointed their guns at the boys, footsteps could be heard out in the hallway. The door slammed open and naked, towel-covered Jared came running through the door.

“I’m sorry, please, I didn’t mean it! I was in the shower and didn’t hear anything…” Jared rambled. He was scared to death. Maybe the General was right and they’d kill him.

Cali grabbed him by the arm. He then looked at the other gunmen. “Take the rest of the students back to their rooms. I’ll deal with this myself.”

Before he was led from the room, Jared glimpsed over at Jensen. Jensen appeared angry, but Jared could tell that there was also some relief in his eyes.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared was led into the Headmaster’s office, which Cali had taken as his own. He looked around as he entered the room. He noticed Chad’s model airplane sitting against the wall. The controller was sitting on the desk next the bomb detonator. He was led over to the desk and pushed forcefully into it. Cali then walked around the desk and opened up a drawer. He pulled out Morgan’s collapsible pointer and extended it to its full length.

“I read your file. You really have no sense of discipline, do you?”

“I guess not.”

“This will teach you how serious I am.”

He slammed Jared down onto the desk and began to whip him across the back with the thin metal pointer. Each hit caused a thin red whelp to form on his back. Several of them began to bleed. Each time, Jared winced and bit his tongue. He wasn’t going to give Cali the satisfaction of hearing him scream. After ten hits, he stopped. He gave Jared a moment to collect himself, and then called Jack into the room.

“Take him back to his room.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

There was a knock on the door of room 305. Mike, being closest to the door, got up and answered it. When he opened it, Jared stood there, still dressed in only a towel. Jack was standing right behind him. He shoved Jared through the doorway, and if Mike hadn’t have been standing there he would have fallen to the floor. Mike closed the door behind Jared, and when he turned around, he got a good look at Jared’s back.

“Oh shit, man! What did he do?”

“What do you mean? Jared, what happened?” Jensen stood up and walked toward where Jared stood.

“It’s nothin’. I’m fine…” He began to collapse. Luckily, Jensen was close enough to catch him before he hit the floor.

“Mike, help me out here.”

That’s when Jensen got his first look at Jared’s back. There were several angry whelps across his back, and about half of them were seeping blood.

“Clear off the bed!” Jensen practically yelled at the rest of the guys. He and Mike laid him gently on his stomach on the bed. “Somebody, get a towel and some water. Anybody have any bandages?”

Tom grabbed a towel from a drawer and ran to the sink. He filled up a bowl with water and then brought them to Jensen. He was shaking, and dropped the towel.

“I’ve got it. Just sit with him.” Mike grabbed the towel and water and began cleaning Jared’s wounds.

When Mike first touched his back, Jared’s eyes opened and he moaned loudly.

“Jared, talk to me. What happened?”

“He…he wanted to teach me a lesson.” He squeezed his eyes shut. He was in considerable pain.

“That bastard is not going to get away with this!” Jensen was livid.

“Whoa, cowboy!” Chris stood and put a hand on Jensen’s shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“I know! I’m just pissed off!” He ran a hand through Jared’s hair. “I just wish there was something I could do. I hate sitting here doing nothing.”

Tom chose that moment to chime in. “After what Jared did today, we may not have to wait too much longer for something to happen.”

“I…I got the stuff…to them…The reason I was late getting back…is they wouldn’t let me leave…I had to make a run for it.”

“Did they say anything about the plan?” Chad had been quiet up till that point. He still felt like an outsider in the group.

“Morgan said to wait for a signal…ran before I had to time to find out anything else…wanted to make it back on time…still didn’t…” Jared winced again. Luckily, Mike was almost done with his ministrations.

“Don’t worry about it right now, Jared. Just rest. We’ll figure things out later.”

Jared fell asleep as soon as Mike was done. Jensen covered him with the sheet and then crawled into the bed next to him. It wasn’t long before everyone had found their own makeshift beds and had fallen asleep. Jensen was beyond upset. He’d never felt this strongly about another person before in his life. He just wanted to hurt the people that hurt Jared. He would bide his time, and wait for the perfect opportunity to get them back. He didn’t know how, but he knew it had to be done.

After about an hour, Jensen fell asleep.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Throughout the course of the previous day, the families of all involved gathered at the town hall. Sheriff Beaver, Special Agent Whitfield, and Dean Morgan were all there to answer questions and fill them in on what was going on. The general consensus was that the demands should be met. Whitfield stood up to address the group.

“It is the policy of the US to not negotiate with terrorists.”

This angered many in the crowd. They started yelling loudly. Morgan stepped in to try and quiet everyone.

“Please, sit down and listen. We are doing everything we can to get your sons back to you. The last thing we want is for any harm to come to them.”

He sat down and waited. Whitfield leaned over to him and whispered, “You do realize who is in this room. These are some of the most rich and powerful people in the state, let alone the country.”

“Yes, I’m quite aware.” He looked at Whitfield and grinned.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next morning, everyone was awakened at the usual time, by the usual means. They had to be in the cafeteria by 8:00. Jared was stiff, but managed to get cleaned up and dressed without too much trouble. It was now time for the first head count of the day. Cali once again lined them up against the wall.

“One…two…three…four…”

He finished counting all of the students, and then told one of his henchmen to let them all go out into the quad.

The rest of the day went without much incident. The younger students sat with the Headmaster as he tried to teach them about history. Then lunch came, and went.

Cali stayed in the office most of the day, except for when he was conducting the head counts. He was sitting at the desk when the phone rang. He answered it, and after a few moments hung up with a smile on his face. He grabbed his walkie talkie and pressed the call button.

“Jack, bring Mr. Ackles to the office.”

He walked out into the quad and up to the group, grabbed Jensen by the arm, and said, “You’re coming with me.”

“Like hell I am!” Jensen struggled to get away. Jared grabbed the guy by his other arm, trying to get him away from Jensen. Jack was holding a gun in the hand, and was able to shake loose by hitting Jared with it. Jared was knocked to the floor with the force of the hit, at which point, Jack pointed the gun at Jared’s head. He winced from the impact of his back on the floor.

“Whoa…wait…I’ll go with you! Just leave him alone.” Jensen gave Jared a look that told him to stay still and let him go.

“This way.” Jack led him by the arm to the office where Cali was waiting.

“Leave us!” Cali commanded, and all of his men left the room, leaving Jensen and Cali behind.

Cali stood behind the desk and looked at Jensen.

“I’m letting you go.”

“Excuse me?” Jensen questioned. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I said I’m letting you go, Mr. Ackles. I admire your father, and…”

“My father?! Are you kidding me?”

“No, I am not kidding…he is…”

“Fuck my father! And fuck you! I’m not leaving here without my friends!”

During their exchange, a couple of his men heard the elevated voices and came into the room. They walked up behind Jensen.

“Yes you are! Jorge, Carlos, escort him to the gate. Mr. Ackles is leaving.”

The each grabbed one of Jensen’s arms. He struggled with all his might, but was easily overpowered by the two larger men. They made it into the hall. At that point, Jensen had stopped struggling, giving the two men a false sense of security. They each let go of his arms. This was it. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. In that moment, Jensen took both men by surprise. He grabbed Carlos’ gun arm and twisted it around, causing him to drop the gun. Jensen then kicked Jorge in the knee, knocking him to the ground. While both men were disoriented, he picked the gun up off the floor and ran toward the front door of the building. He pushed the door open and pointed the gun at the first gunman he saw. He had never shot a large gun like this before, so the kickback surprised him. He was able to get two shots off, hitting the first gunman in the shoulder and missing the second. The second was able to get three good shots off before he was stopped by Cali. He hit Jensen in the right side of his stomach, the right side of his chest, and high in the left side of his chest. He went down hard.

The entire student body was standing in the quad and witnessed everything as it happened. As soon as Jensen ran out the door, Jared and the rest of the group, turned. As Jensen was shot and went down, Jared screamed, “No!” and started to run in his direction. It took Mike, Tom, and Chris to restrain him so he wouldn’t get caught up in the gunfire. He struggled with all his strength to get away. Once Cali ordered his men to stand down, they let him go. He ran as fast as he could to Jensen’s side. Jared fell to his knees. He realized that Jensen was still alive, and was struggling to breathe.

“Oh god, Jensen …please!” The tears were flowing freely. He vaguely heard someone yell to get some help, but he was in his own world. Right before Jared was pulled away by one of the gunmen, Jensen opened his eyes briefly. They made eye contact right before Jared was pulled out of sight. Jensen’s eyes closed, and he stopped breathing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When the call came in to the 911 office, the operator was told there had been a shooting, and there were two victims, one was close to death. Cali demanded that one ambulance be brought in, and that the Dean of the school, Jeff Morgan, be on board.

The ambulance stopped momentarily at the encampment, picked up Morgan, and headed to the front gate. Since they knew that the one victim was gravely injured, they moved as quickly as possible to get to the school.

Once the gate opened, the ambulance made its way down the drive toward the main building. It was met by two armed men. They made the two paramedics and Morgan exit the vehicle and searched them. Once they were deemed safe, Cali exited the building. He motioned for the paramedic to come inside. He then walked up to Morgan.

“I want you to make sure that his father knows this was an accident. We were letting him go.”

“He’s just a child. You are the adult. How the hell do you expect me to explain to his father that your men’s shooting him was an accident?!”

“He attacked my men! They were defending themselves!”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly how it happened.”

The front door opened and the paramedics were working on keeping the young man alive. One of the paramedics was doing chest compressions while the other pushed the gurney toward the ambulance. When Morgan looked, he could see that Jensen was covered in blood. What clean skin he could see was deathly pale, and he wasn’t moving. He turned back to Cali.

“His father will never understand this. He’ll never let you get away with it.”

Morgan returned to the ambulance. As soon as he climbed in the back, they headed out. The driver hurriedly turned around and headed back out the gate, and toward the nearest hospital.

“We’re losing him!” yelled the paramedic to the driver. “We need to get there, now!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Alan Ackles had someone close to the school at all times. He wanted to keep an eye out on his son. As soon as the shooting happened, he got a phone call.

“Mr. Ackles, sir, I have some bad news.”

“What is it?”

“Your son. He…he’s been shot.”

“What!?! How? What happened?”

“Apparently he attacked one of the gunmen, took his weapon, and then opened fire.”

“Do you know if he’s alive?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but there is no word yet. It didn’t look good.”

“…Thank you for your call.”

Ackles hung up the phone. He hung his head. He wouldn’t cry, but he would make sure that Cali and his men knew how upset he really is. Everything that he’d said to his son just days earlier flooded back. He could never hate his son, no matter the consequences. He picked up the phone and made one phone call.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They finally had Jensen stabilized. Because of their distance from the closest hospital, the paramedic had been given permission to insert a breathing tube. He was using a squeeze bag to assist in breathing. The paramedic glanced over at Morgan. He could tell he was upset. He asked, “He’s one of your students? This has got to be tough.”

“More than you know.”

“We’re doing everything we can for him. It’ll take us at least twenty minutes to get to the hospital.”

“Will he make it?”

“I hope so. He’s severely injured. Three bullet wounds. He’s going to need surgery immediately."

“He’s a strong kid.”

Several alarms started going off at that moment.

“Damnit! His heart’s stopped!” The paramedic began chest compressions. He glanced back at Morgan. “When I say, squeeze the bag! We need to keep his air flow going.”

Jeff grabbed the bag and did as he was told.

When they arrived at the hospital, Jensen was rushed out of the back of the ambulance and into the ER. Morgan ran behind it, but was stopped short by one of the nurses.

“You can’t go back there. The doctors need room to work.”

“Will he be okay? Will he make it?”

“Sir, I don’t know. Sorry.”

“I need a phone.”

After making his phone call, he went and sat down in the waiting room. He didn’t realize how much a toll this was taking on him until he was able to finally relax. He must have fallen asleep because he woke to being shaken and someone calling his name.

“Mr. Morgan? Are you Mr. Jeffrey Morgan?” It was a nurse.

“Oh…um…yeah…sorry, must have fallen asleep.”

“Sir, the doctor would like to speak to you.”

“Thanks.”

A few moments later, a young doctor, probably a few years younger than Morgan himself, walked over.

“Mr. Morgan, I’m Dr. Kripke. I wanted to speak to you about Jensen. I don’t normally talk to non-family about patients, but these are special circumstances.”

“Okay…what is it?”

“Okay, Jeff, here’s what we are looking at. He’s stable for the moment, but he’s on a ventilator. He was hit three times, no exit wounds. So we’re going to have to do surgery to remove them. One of the bullets hit him low on his right side. Luckily, that one didn’t do any extensive damage. What I’m worried about is the two that hit higher in his chest area.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“I’m not going to lie to you. The first one went in on the right side of his chest. It missed his heart, but it punctured his lung and is lodged near his spinal cord. The cord itself isn’t damaged, but there is swelling. We had to put a chest tube in to help re-inflate his lung, so we’ll have to repair that as well. The other bullet entered just above his heart and is lodged near his shoulder blade. It grazed his lung, but didn’t puncture it. It did tear through some of the muscle, so there will be some extensive physical therapy if he recovers.”

“If? Are you saying…?”

“There is a very good chance that he won’t make it. He’s lost a lot of blood, and we’ve already had to infuse four units since he’s been here.”

“Thank you for being straight with me. He’s a strong kid. He’ll make it.”

“I hope so.”

Shortly after the conversation, a tall man in a suit walked in to the waiting room. He walked over to Morgan.

“Sir, I’m Agent Carver with the FBI. I’m here to take you back to the camp.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When they arrived back at the camp and got out of the vehicle, General Lehne approached them.

“The situation just changed dramatically. Cali’s father was just killed in prison.”

“Does he know?”

Agent Whitfield approached. “We have cut the power and phone lines to the school, but there is still the possibility that word will get through. As far as we can tell, there hasn’t been any outside communication.”

“That’s good right?” Morgan was getting extremely worried.

“For the moment, but as soon as he finds out, he’s got nothing to lose. He’ll blow the school. This means we have to move up the op. We go in tomorrow morning.”

“Mr. Morgan, how much do you trust this kid or yours, Jared? Are you sure he can get this done?”

“I trust that he can get this done. If he says he can do it, he can do it.”

“Okay. We’ll send the signal tonight.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tom, Mike, Chris, Chad and Gabe all sat around Jared on the bed. He was doing everything he could to hold the tears back. He was holding Jensen’s notebook. He had promised to never look in it. Now, that didn’t seem to matter. He opened the front cover. The first page only had two words: “My Stuff.” The picture on the next page caught Jared off guard. It was of him, sitting in bed, reading a book. He remembered the moment. Jensen had been sitting at the desk with the notebook, but he wouldn’t let Jared see what he was doing. He was so engrossed in the book that he didn’t realize Jensen had been drawing him. On the next page was something that surprised Jared even more. There were a bunch of words scrawled across the page, but what was written at the top nearly broke him. The words, “For Jared,” were at the top of the page. He tried to read through the rest of the words on the page, but the tears in his eyes wouldn’t hold back. He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He shut the book, handed it to Chris, and stood up. He walked over to the wall next to his dresser, turned around, and slid down the wall onto the floor. He openly sobbed, and he didn’t care who saw him. He sat there and cried himself to sleep.

Everyone just sat there, in disbelieving silence. Each of them eventually going to their makeshift beds and trying to sleep. Chris picked up the notebook where he had sat it down after Jared handed it to him. He opened it up to the third page, and read the words that had been written there. Jensen had written a song, or had at least started one. There were a lot of scratched out words, but the ones he had kept fit together amazingly. He couldn’t believe that Jensen had written it. They had been writing songs together for awhile, but nothing like that. He quietly began to read them aloud, and composing a melody in his head.

‘I used to hate my life, until I met you.  
Yeah, that sounds lame, but it is oh so true.  
I lived a dark existence, then you brightened my day.  
I feel as though I’ve changed, in the best possible way.’

It was several hours later when a bright light started to shine in the window. Chris saw it first. He jumped up and grabbed the mirror from behind the door. He stood at the window and held the mirror up, essentially reflecting the light back toward the source. This was it.

Jared startled awake and saw what Chris was doing. He jumped up and grabbed the mirror.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Um…following through with the plan that y’all came up with.”

“What’s the point? It’s not going to work…”

“What the hell, Jared? This was your idea. We have to do this.”

“If you say we have to do this for Jensen, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

“You know why we have to do it, and we are doing it.”

“Whatever…”

Chris picked the mirror back up and reflected the light once again. Shortly after, the light was turned off, and Chris sat the mirror down against the wall.

“It’s done…the plan’s a go.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next morning, they all got up and got ready to head to the cafeteria for breakfast and the first head count. Jared really didn’t want to get up and face the day, but was determined to do what he could to help the authorities on the outside as much as he could. He went to the sink and looked in the mirror. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot. He splashed water on his face and with one last look, he went about getting ready.

As soon as the head count was over, everyone was sent through the food line and then they all sat down to eat. A few minutes later, Jared got up from his seat. He walked behind Chad and Gabe, signaling for them to follow him a few minutes later. Jared went into the bathroom and waited until the others got there.

“Okay…here’s the deal.” He stepped over to the sink and turned the water on. “Gabe, you stay here and keep the water running. If something goes wrong, turn the water off. That’ll be our signal.”

“Sure.”

“Chad, you’re with me.”

“Um…okay…let’s go.”

Jared opened one of the stall doors and climbed up onto the toilet. He then pulled himself up onto one of the walls, reached up and opened the vent. He heaved himself up through the hole and into the vent. He backed up until he could see down through the hole, and then helped Chad up. There wasn’t much room up there, so they had to crawl slowly. They also had to make sure they didn’t make too much noise, as to alert anyone below.

“Dude, how do you move around in here? It’s a tight fit, even for me,” Chad whispered.

“Lots of practice, and I’m a lot more limber than I look.”

They finally made it to the vent door above the Headmaster’s office. When Jared looked down, he could see that Cali was still in there, sitting at the desk.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Back in the cafeteria, Mike, Chris, and Tom were sitting quietly eating their food. Tom then elbowed Mike in the arm.

“You ready? It’s been ten minutes.”

“Yeah…here goes nothin’”

Mike took in a deep breath and then began to wheeze. He started taking in more deep breaths but was having trouble exhaling. He reached for his throat. He began to fall backward, so Tom and Chris grabbed either arm and guided him down to the floor. Tom yelled out, “Someone help! He’s having a bad asthma attack! Please!”

One of the gunmen in the room ran out and to the office where Cali was. He told him what was going on and he left the room headed to the cafeteria.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When Jared saw Cali leave the room and the door close behind him, he took his chance and opened the vent door. He crawled down through the hole and hung momentarily, till he was sure he wouldn’t fall. He then dropped down onto the desk. He jumped to the floor, and ran over to the plane. He picked it up and carried it back to the desk, sitting it next to the control box for the bomb. He looked up at Chad.

“Okay, now what do I do?”

“Turn the plane over and open up the panel on the bottom. That’s where the controls are.”

“Okay.”

“Now, open up the panel on the top of the control box.”

Jared reached over toward the detonator.

“Whoa! Not that box. The smaller one. You touch the detonator and you’ll probably blow us all up.”

“Oh, damn. Okay…”

“Now, look at the two. Do you see anything that looks similar?”

“Um…yeah…the circuit boards and there are a few of the chips.”

“Okay…the control box should have a blue chip, like the plane.”

“Oh yeah, I see it.”

“Good. Now, remove the chips and switch them.”

Jared pulled the chip out of the plane, and then carefully pulled the same chip out of the control box. He quickly switched them and replaced the panels. He put the plane back where he had found it. He didn’t want to leave any evidence that he had been there. He then jumped back up on the desk, jumped up and grabbed the edges of the vent, and with Chad’s help, made his way back up into the vent. He pulled the vent door closed behind him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Mike continued to struggle on the floor of the cafeteria. He began to calm down, until he saw the light go off on Cali’s wrist controller. This sent him back into a wheezing fit. He continued on until he noticed the light come back on. At that point, the Headmaster had returned with his inhaler. Mike grabbed it, and inhaled 2 quick squeezes of the medicine. Within a few moments he began to breathe easier. He sat up.

“Thank you, sir. I think I’m okay now.” He gave the Headmaster a weary look. He then turned to Tom and gave him a smirk.

Chris had come around to his other side, and both of them helped Mike up off the floor.

“Are you sure?” The Headmaster was concerned. This wasn’t the first time he had witnessed one of Mike’s attacks.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.”

Cali looked around and saw that many of the students had gotten out of their seats.

“Everyone, go back to your seats. There is nothing more to see here.”

He nodded to Jack and then walked back to the office.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Gabe was still standing in the bathroom when one of the gunmen walked in. So, he quickly went to the sink and began washing his hands. He then turned off the water and walked out of the room. He went back to his seat, alerting the rest of the guys that something was up. This was Chris’ signal to make his way to the bathroom. He would then wait five minutes. If no one had left by then, he would go in.

The gunman finished his business and then turned on the faucet. He was still washing his hands when the vent door opened and Chad began to climb down out of the vent. The gunman saw him and stepped back from the sink. He pointed his gun at Chad.

Chad had finished climbing down and turned around and was face-to-face with the gun. He instinctively put his hands up and froze where he was. Jared had finally made his way down and turned to see what was happening. He also put his hands up. The gunman motioned for them to step toward the door. He kept the gun pointed on them the entire time. At this point, the gunman’s back was to the door.

As if on cue, Chris quietly opened the door and stepped into the room. He immediately grabbed the guy from behind. This gave Jared the chance to grab for the gun. The man was so stunned by what was happening that Jared was easily able to take it away. Unfortunately, the man recovered and lunged at Jared. Chris was able to hold him, but was losing ground quickly. The three of them struggled. Chad saw the gun lying on the floor and picked it up. Jared yelled at him to hit the man, so Chad did, right across the face, knocking him out immediately.

Chad walked out of the bathroom first, followed by Chris. A moment later, Jared walked out, the gun behind his back. He waited till he saw that none of the other terrorists were in the room. He then held the gun up and yelled, “Everybody, follow me!”

He then made his way to the kitchen door and held it open as the students began to pile through.

Mike, Tom, and Chris led the rest of the students down into the hidden basement. Chad and Gabe had gone ahead to prepare the room. Jared waited till they had all gone through the passage and Chris signaled him that everything was good to go. He then closed the trapdoor. He then covered it with random stuff in the room. He headed back into the cafeteria, and finally reached the door that led back to the main part of the building. He still had the gun in his hand that he’d grabbed off the terrorist they’d knocked out. Now, all he had to do was hide until the cavalry arrived. Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying as good attention as he should and Cali was able to take him by surprise. As Jared came through the door, he caught him across the face with his arm, knocking him back a bit and leaving him in a daze.

Cali grabbed Jared’s left arm, and snatched the gun from his right. He began to lead Jared toward the office, when he heard the sound of a window breaking. Cali then heard gunshots, and saw one of his men fall. He reacted quickly, grabbing and placing Jared between him and the new threat. He also put his gun to Jared’s right temple.

Jared tried to stay as calm as he could, but that was nearly impossible considering the situation. He was forced past the armed soldiers and toward the office. He was still dazed and his head hurt.

Cali was losing it. He had been outsmarted by a kid, and now everything had gone to hell. He had one chance left. If he could get to the office, he could set off the bombs. If he was going down, he was going to take as many people with him as he could. With the gun pointed at the kid’s head, he knew that they wouldn’t try and take a shot at him.

Cali, with Jared, finally made it to the office. He backed through the doorway and closed the door once they were through. He knew the door would be easily opened, so he held Jared between him and the door. He backed up toward the desk. He then reached around Jared and pulled the plastic cover off. He pressed the button, but instead of the bombs going off, the propeller on Chad’s model plane came on. When Cali saw this, he let out this inhuman growl. He put the gun back up to Jared’s head and then reached for the wires coming from the detonator on the bomb.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Using the map that Morgan had supplied and the intel he had given them on the storm drain, two squads of soldiers headed toward the school. They would go through the storm drain and follow the tree line up to the buildings. If all went according to plan, the students would be safe in the basement and they could enter the building unnoticed.

Morgan had followed the soldiers onto the campus and was making his way around to the side of the building where the Headmaster’s office was located. The soldiers had all entered the building at the front, but not without catching him following them.

“What the hell are you doing here? You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“You can’t expect me to sit by while y’all go storming in there. I have to make sure the boys are okay.”

“Look, it’s going to get hairy in just a few minutes. Just stay out of the building and out of our way. Here you may need this.” The lead soldier gave him his sidearm.

He headed around to the side of the building where the headmaster’s office was. He happened to look through the window of the office and he saw Cali holding Jared in front of him. He also noticed that he was reaching for the wires on the bomb. He knew that if Cali pulled the wires, all the bombs would explode. He could think of only one thing. He aimed the gun at the window, fired a couple of shots, and then jumped through.

At almost the same moment, the soldiers broke down the door.

Jared was standing as still has he possibly could. He didn’t know what do, and there really wasn’t much he could do. When he heard the shots coming from the window, he turned his head in that direction. He didn’t expect the door to blow and to all of a sudden be pushed toward it.

Cali was able to get two shots off before he was taken down by two shots, one from his right side and one from the front. The kill shot was the one to his head.

Everything happened so fast. Morgan had busted through the window, recovered and shot at Cali just as he had shoved Jared out of the way. The soldiers broke through and one well placed shot brought him down. Morgan heard the two extra shots, but had no idea where they had gone. The only thing on his mind at the moment was Jared. He stood up and rushed to Jared who was laying face down on the floor between where Cali had fallen and the door.

Jared was trying to get up. He felt really weak, but he wasn’t sure why. Everything sounded muted, but he could hear one thing clearly, Morgan’s voice.

“Jared, can you hear me? Don’t move!” Morgan sounded agitated.

“Dean Morgan? What are you doing here?”

“Saving your life apparently. Stay still, okay?”

“What? Why?” Jared was feeling and sounding more and more confused.

“You’ve been shot! Just lay still and don’t move!”

“Oh…” was that last thing he said before his entire world went dark.


	4. Part Three

The first thing Jared heard was jumbled sounds, which soon made way to soft voices. One of them sounded like Dean Morgan. He also became hyper aware of the fact he was lying on his left side, and he was in a lot of pain. He tried to move, but the pain magnified several times. He let out a moan. At the moment, that was all he could manage.

Morgan had been sitting in Jared’s room when Dr. Kripke walked in. They were standing near the door when they heard Jared moan. They both hurried to the left side of Jared’s bed.

“Jared, can you open your eyes?” Dr. Kripke urged.

Slowly, his eyes began to open. It took him a few blinks before he was able to focus. The first thing he saw was the doctor’s face, and then Morgan’s.

“Easy…don’t try to move. Do you remember why you’re here?”

Softly, Jared spoke, “Um…I think I was shot…”

“Yes, you were shot. In the back of your right shoulder. That’s why we have you laying on your side.”

“It hurts, a lot.” He winced when he shifted a little.

“I’ll get you something for that.” He pulled out a vial and syringe and injected something into Jared’s IV. “I’ve got to go check on another patient.” He looked over at Morgan. “I need to talk to you for a sec.”

“Sure.”

They walked out into the hall, closing the door behind them.

“How is he, doc?”

“Jared will be fine. He’ll need some physical therapy to get back to his full mobility, but I don’t see any complications.”

“I want to go ahead and tell him about…”

“Wait…let’s hold off, at least until he’s up and walking again. The last thing I need is for him to cause anymore damage. You know he’ll want to see for himself.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Any idea how long it will be?”

“At least a week. He needs to stay immobilized to let the shoulder heal.”

“Okay.”

A nurse walked up to the two men. She faced Dr. Kripke. “His blood pressure dropped again.”

“Damn, I thought we had that under control. Jeff, I need to go look into this. Try and figure out what’s going on.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Fine, just don’t get in the way.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next time Jared opened his eyes, it was dark. He assumed that it was night time. He moved a little, and realized that he wasn’t in as much pain as before. In fact, he was able to move pretty easily considering. He decided to see if he could roll over onto his back. Surprisingly, he could with little discomfort. He was able to see his whole room.

A nurse walked by and just happened to look into his room and see him moving. She rushed off, and moments later she returned with Dr. Kripke closely behind.

“Nice to see you awake,” he said with a smile on his face.

Jared tried to speak, but it came out in a horse whisper. “How long was I out?”

“A little over two days. You actually had us a little worried.”

“Really? Is everything ok?”

“Oh yeah, no worries. You popped your stitches and started bleeding again. We got it under control though, and as you can see, things are progressing just fine.”

“Okay…I guess.”

“There’s someone here who’s been pretty worried about you.”

“Who?”

“Who do ya think? We’ve only hung out together for the past year and a half.”

Chris walked into the room with a huge grin on his face. Before he could say anything else, the doctor pulled him aside. “He seems to be doing fine. If you want to go ahead and tell him, that’s fine with me. Just let me know if there are any problems.”

“Sure thing,” Chris said with a smile.

The doctor walked out of the room and left the two friends alone.

Jared cleared his throat, hoping that would help with his voice.

“How long have you been here?” Jared asked him, his voice a little stronger now.

“A few hours. Dean Morgan brought me up here. He could tell I was worried sick, and after all that happened…” He got a little choked up.

“Dude, are you crying?”

“Hell no! Just got something in my eye!”

“Yeah, sure.” Jared grinned.

“Do you know how long you’ve been here, Jay?”

“I’m not really sure. They haven’t told me much.”

“Well, it’s been five days.”

“What? Really?” Jared jerked at that, and realized he wasn’t as healed as he thought. His back started hurting with the effort.

“Yeah, and there are a few other things you need to know.”

“Um…okay…”

“Just don’t freak out, okay?”

“Depends on what it is. No guarantees.”

Chris took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Here goes nothing’,’ he thought to himself.

“First thing, Dean Morgan has been trying to get a hold of your parents. No luck so far.”

“That’s not a surprise. I really hadn’t expected to see them anyway. I’m not important.”

“Don’t say that. Of course you’re important. They just don’t know you, is all.”

“Yeah, whatever…” Jared looked away from his friend. “You said that was the first thing, what else is there?”

“Well, I’m not sure the best way to do this so I’ll just come right out and say it.”

“Dude, what’s the deal? Just say it already.”

“Okay. Jensen didn’t die when he got shot. They were able to get him here in time. He’s down the hall in ICU.”

“What?!” Jared went to sit up and a gut wrenching pain went through his body. He kept trying to sit up though, and then fell back in a heap. He was sweating profusely.

“Damnit, Jay! I said not to freak out! Now look what you’ve done. You’re bleeding again.”

“I can’t believe it! He’s still alive. I thought for sure he was dead.” Tears crept into the corners of his eyes. “Oh God! Is he okay?”

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look good. He’s been on a ventilator since they brought him in. His blood pressure keeps dropping, and they don’t know why. It’s almost like he’s giving up.”

“No! He can’t die! I have to see him!” He tried to sit up again. This time, though, he just couldn’t and he let out a scream of pain. He fell back in a heap, and the tears came steadily.

Chris leaned forward and pressed the button that raised the head of the bed. When he had Jared in a semi-seated position, he stopped. He then leaned forward and put his arms around Jared’s shoulders. Jared laid his head on Chris’ shoulder and cried. He eventually cried himself to sleep. When Chris was sure that he was asleep, he called the doctor in. They ended up having to re-stitch his shoulder once again. Luckily, it wasn’t bad. Jared had just fallen asleep. Dr. Kripke assured him that he would wake up in a few hours.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Over the next few days, Jared began to wake and sleep regularly, and was able to move around much more. He had several other visitors, including Mike, Tom, Chad, and Gabe.

Once he was able to sit up on his own, the doctor decided that it would be okay for him to visit Jensen.

“I want to warn you, though. He’s hooked up to a lot of machines, and there are a lot of wires and tubes going to and from his body. He’s also on a ventilator that is breathing for him. It may be a little scary for you at first.”

“I’ll be okay…I think.”

A nurse walked into the room with a wheelchair and a sling.

“Doc, do I have to?”

“Yes, Jared. You still aren’t strong enough to make it that far. Trust me. You’ll thank me later.”

“Okay.”

The nurse walked over and helped Jared into the sling that would keep his arm immobilized for the move. When that was done, Jared slowly stood up from the bed and then turned around and sat in the wheelchair. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was glad to have the wheelchair there.

The nurse wheeled him slowly down the hallway toward the ICU. Jared was getting anxious. He had believed for at least two weeks that his best friend and lover had died horribly, only to find out that he had indeed survived. He had pushed himself for the last few days so that he could go see Jensen. It was all he could think about.

As they reached the door to Jensen’s room, the nurse stopped and knelt down in front of Jared.

“It’ll be okay.”

She opened the door and then pushed Jared inside. It was just as scary, if not more so, than the doctor had warned him. The nurse slowly rolled him to the bed. Jensen was surrounded by machines that were making numerous beeps and whooshing sounds. There were so many wires and tubes that Jared could barely see him. When Jared saw the ventilator tubes coming from Jensen’s mouth, he just about lost all composure.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” the nurse said and then left the room, closing the door behind her.

Jared just sat there, stunned. He was trying hard to hold it together, but the inevitable happened and he began to cry in earnest.

After a long few minutes, he was finally able to pull himself together and he slowly stood up. He used the railing of the bed to hold himself up and he leaned over brushing a kiss to Jensen’s forehead. He stood there looking down at Jensen for what seemed forever, and then sat down. His slinged arm was beginning to ache, so he tried to get comfortable in the chair. He wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

He reached his good arm up through the railing and found Jensen’s right hand. He gently grabbed hold of it. He was afraid that if he let go, he might lose him.

“Jensen…I’m here…and I’m not going anywhere. So, don’t you dare leave me, okay?”

He sat there staring at Jensen’s slack face, hoping that he’d get a reply. When none came, he sat back in the wheelchair, his hand still gently wrapped around Jensen’s.

After about half an hour, the nurse came back in the room. Jared reluctantly went with her back to his room. Before they left though, Jared had one more thing to say. “I’ll be back.”

“When will I get to come back?”

“Well, you start physical therapy tomorrow. If all goes well, we’ll let you come back when you’re done there.”

“Okay,” Jared said, a hint of a smile on his face.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared’s first therapy session had gone pretty well. Since it was his first one, Misha, his therapist, went light on him.

“We’re almost done, Jared. You’re doing great.”

“I’ve hardly done anything, and it hurts like hell.”

“It’s supposed to hurt like hell. That’s how we know its working.”

“Whatever you say, Misha,” Jared said. “And what kind of name is Misha for a guy anyway?”

“I think it’s Russian or something. My mom’s crazy like that.”

Jared was exhausted when it was over. As the nurse was wheeling him back to his room, he turned his head toward her.

“Can I go see him now?”

“Honey, aren’t you tired? Don’t you want to lie down first?”

“No, I don’t. I want to go see him, please,” he pleaded.

“Okay, we’ll go see him. The doctor said it would be fine. Visiting hours are just starting.”

They bypassed his room and headed straight into the ICU. She again wheeled him into the room and up to the bed then left.

Jared was too tired to try and stand up, so he just reached out and found Jensen’s hand again.

“It’s me again. Told you I’d be back.” He gave a little smile and then sat back and stared at Jensen’s unconscious form.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jared must have dozed off because the next thing he realized, he was being pushed out of the way. He heard the distinct sound of alarms and loud beeps going off all around him. It didn’t take him long to realize that something was definitely wrong.

“What’s wrong? Please tell me what’s going on!” Jared yelled over the commotion.

“Nurse, take him back to his room, please.”

“Wait! No, I’m not leaving! Tell me what the hell is going on!”

“Go back to your room and I’ll be down to talk to you as soon as I can.”

Jared didn’t have a choice but to obey. He didn’t have the strength to fight and he could barely see straight. The nurse led him back down to his room. Before they got there, they ran into Dean Morgan.

“You look exhausted, Jared. They told me you started your physical therapy today.”

“Yeah…”

Morgan could tell that something was wrong.

“What’s wrong, Jared?”

“Something’s wrong with Jensen. All the machines…oh God…he could be dying…”

“Nurse, what’s going on?”

She leaned and whispered into his ear. “Let me get him settled and then I’ll come out and talk to you.”

She wheeled Jared into the room and helped him back into bed. No matter how hard he tried to fight it, he could stay awake, and fell into a restless slumber. She then walked out the door, closing it behind her.

“Mr. Morgan, it appears that Jensen has started showing his first signs of coming out of the coma.”

“That’s great. I see a ‘but’ coming though.”

“Well, yes, his heart rate jumped up dramatically, almost like he was struggling. With his diminished lung function and weakness, his body couldn’t handle the sudden onslaught. He crashed.”

“Please tell me that he’s gonna be okay.”

“I can’t. We won’t know anything else until the doctor is done with him.”

It wasn’t a moment after she had finished telling him what had happened that Dr. Kripke was walking toward them.

“Doc, is he…okay?” Morgan hesitated.

“He’s stable. From the looks of things, it appears that Jensen has started to wake from the coma. If it weren’t for his current weakened state, and the condition of his lungs, he probably would have been fine.”

Morgan breathed a big sigh of relief. “How is he now?”

“Well, we only had to shock him once, which is good. When we got him back into sinus rhythm, he started to trip the ventilator. We had to induce a coma-like state so that we could leave the ventilator in. His lungs are still too weak to handle breathing on his own. From all indications, he seems to be making a miraculous recovery.”

“You said you had to induce a coma?”

“Yes, we didn’t have a choice. Like I said, his lungs can’t handle it. So, until they are stronger, he will have to remain in the coma.”

“What do you think caused this to happen?”

“Well, up until we let Jared in there yesterday, he had been showing signs of decline. We weren’t expecting him to make it the rest of the week. I think he knew that Jared was there.”

“Wow.” Morgan didn’t know what to say.

“If you wait out here for a few moments, I’ll go check in on my other patient.”

“Thanks for everything, doc.”

Dr. Kripke walked into Jared’s room. As he had already suspected, Jared had fallen asleep, unable to resist the urge. As he walked toward the bed, Jared must have heard him because he startled awake.

“Doctor, is he okay? What happened?”

“He’s as good as can be expected.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Jared, I’m really not supposed to be talking to non-family about his condition. I had to get special permission to tell Mr. Morgan.”

“Please, doc. I need to know. I’m the closest thing he has to family right now.”

“I could get into a lot of trouble for telling you anything, but there’s nothing wrong with Mr. Morgan here telling you. I’ll leave y’all to it then.”

After the doctor left, Jared looked at Morgan with pleading eyes. “Please, tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, it appears that he began to have signs of waking. Unfortunately, his body wasn’t ready for the suddenness of it. He went into arrest.”

“What?!”

“Calm down, Jared, before you do anymore harm to yourself.”

“Calm down?! You tell me Jensen nearly died again, and you want me to calm down?!”

“Yes, let me finish. He seems to be okay now. They got him back.”

Jared visibly relaxed at that.

“The doc also said that he was, how did he put it, tripping the vent.”

“Tripping the vent?”

“He started trying to breathe on his own.”

“That’s good! Is he okay now? Can I see him?”

“Whoa there! I’m not done.”

“Okay…” Jared was excited, but getting very frustrated.

“His lungs still aren’t strong enough to handle the strain, so they had to put him on some medicine to induce a coma. Just until they’ve strengthened enough.”

“Induce a coma?”

“Yeah, they’re hoping that it’ll only be for a few days. He was already showing signs of improvement before it happened.”

Jared relaxed a little. “Did he say when I can see him again?”

“No, they didn’t tell me that, but I’ll ask as soon as I get the chance.”

“Okay…”

“Well, I really need to head back to the school. They’ve just about finished with the clean up and we should be able to start classes back soon.”

“Wait…please don’t go…”

“What is it Jared?”

“I’m…scared…” Jared looked up at Morgan with tears in his eyes. That was when he just let go and the tears began streaming down his face.

Morgan sat on the edge of the bed and put his arms around Jared. He heaved and cried until he couldn’t cry anymore. When the sobbing had stopped, Morgan slowly leaned Jared back against the pillow, where he slept.

Morgan had never seen the kid like this. He was frightened and broken. Jared had always been tough and this definitely worried him.

He moved to the chair and sat there for what seemed forever. When Jared began to rouse again, he stood up and moved to sit back on the bed.

Jared slowly opened his eyes. “You’re still here…”

“Yeah…I guess I am.”

“Do me a favor. Don’t tell anyone that I just totally cried all over you. It would completely ruin my reputation.”

Morgan laughed. “Sure, kid.”

Jared smiled. It felt good.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A week later, Jared was out of the sling and was also able to walk around without much problem. He still felt weak, but not nearly to the point he had been. His physical therapy was going well, and the doctor was confident that he would be release within the next few days.

Every day, as soon as visiting hours started, Jared had gone to see Jensen. On this particular day, though, Jensen had another visitor.

“Hi. You must be Jared.”

“Um…yes…I’m Jared.”

“I’m sorry, I’m Donna Ackles, Jensen’s mother.”

“Oh wow. Hi! It’s nice to meet you. Jensen talked a lot about you.”

“I’m sure he did. We were always close. It was hard though. You know who his father is.”

“Yeah, I do.” There was a tinge of anger behind his words.

“He’s a difficult man, but he loves his son.”

“I’m sure he does. Especially after the last conversation they had,” Jared said angrily.

“Please, Jared, you have every right to be angry, but now is not the time.”

“Yeah, okay…”

Jared stepped back and over to the chair on the opposite side of the bed from Mrs. Ackles. Shortly after, Dr. Kripke walked into the room. He startled Jared, who had his back to the door.

“Hi, Jared, how’s my other favorite patient doing?”

“Same as always.”

“I’ve got some good news. I don’t think it’ll be a problem, since Mrs. Ackles is here, if I just go ahead and tell you. His lungs have healed enough that we believe we can begin to reduce his meds and bring him out of the induced coma.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“That’s great news,” Mrs. Ackles said.

“So, what does that mean? What do you have to do?”

“Well, basically, we have to wean him off the meds. So we reduce the dosages a little at a time until he’s off them completely. That way, there aren’t any unwarranted side effects.”

“Cool!”

Jared stood up and leaned over Jensen. He whispered into his ear. “Ya hear that? They’re bringing ya out. I can’t wait to see those beautiful green eyes again.”

He stepped back. He really hoped the doctor and Jensen’s mother hadn’t heard what he just said.

Jared looked at his watch. It was time for his therapy session. He turned back around to Jensen and said, “I’ll be back later. It’s time for Misha to torture me some more.”

He turned to look at the doctor, who gave him a grin.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Two days later, Morgan arrived to pick up Jared. He was already waiting for him when he arrived.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess. My back doesn’t hurt anymore, but my shoulder’s still a little sore.”

“That’s to be expected.”

“Yeah…”

Morgan grabbed Jared’s things and walked with him out into the hall. As they walked along, Jared turned to Morgan. “I want to stop by Jensen’s room one more time before we go.”

“Sure, no problem.”

They walked into the ICU and toward Jensen’s room. When they walked in, the doctor was there, along with two nurses. Mrs. Ackles was standing near the door. There was a lot of activity going on.

“What’s going on?” Jared was terrified something had gone wrong.

“Everything’s fine, Jared. We’ve successfully weaned him off the medications and it appears that he has started to trip the vent again.”

“Really? That’s good, right?”

“Of course. That means he’s trying to breathe on his own.”

Jared rushed up to the bed and looked down at Jensen. He could hear the machine tripping every so often. He grabbed Jensen’s hand and squeezed. Mrs. Ackles had moved to the other side of the bed and was holding his other hand.

“That’s it. You can do it.” There were tears pooling in his eyes.

“Jared, we can’t remove the vent yet, but if he continues to trip it, it won’t be long.”

He looked the doctor in the eyes and said, “Awesome!”

Everyone in the room smiled and laughed.

“Dean Morgan, can I stay for awhile, if that’s okay with the doctor?”

Morgan turned to the doctor.

“He can stay for an hour, but that’s all I can allow right now.”

“Sure, Jared. I’ve got some things to do around town before we head back to Garden Ridge anyway. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“He’ll be fine with me, Mr. Morgan,” Mrs. Ackles chimed in.

“Thanks.” Jared grinned.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jensen had indeed continued to trip the vent, and so the doctor had decided that it would be okay to remove the ventilator tubing. Because Jensen was still unconscious, it would be easier to do. Once the tubing was out of the way, it was clear that Jensen was definitely breathing on his own.

“That’s a great sign. Now, it’s just a waiting game.”

“What do you mean?” Jared and Mrs. Ackles both looked concerned.

“He’s not going to wake up right away, and even after he opens his eyes, he may not be himself. Things like this take time. We also don’t know if there will be any brain damage.”

“Brain damage?” Jared was truly scared at those words.

Mrs. Ackles sat down quickly in the chair. Both Jared and Dr. Kripke went to her side. He looked to both of them and spoke.

“There is always the chance of brain damage in cases like these. Any time there is a lack of oxygen to the brain, it can happen. There is also the possibility that there won’t be any. We just have to be prepared for everything. We also don’t know if there will be any paralysis.”

All the information the doctor was giving him was scaring Jared to death. It was all too much. He couldn’t speak. He just stood there and stared at Jensen.

“The swelling has gone down, and everything is healing as it should be. We’ve run every test in the book, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason that Jensen won’t wake up and make a full recovery. We just have to wait and see.”

That seemed to calm Jared’s nerves down subtly.

“I’ll leave the three of you alone. Let me know if there is anything you need, or if there is any change.”

Jared didn’t say anything. He just continued to stand there and stare. The doctor quietly walked out of the room. Mrs. Ackles sat in silence as well. She then turned to Jared and spoke.

“You really do love him don’t you?”

“Yes…I do…more than anything.”

“I’m glad that he has you. For a long time, he didn’t really have any friends at all. Everyone knew who he was, who his father was. It was tough for him.”

“Yeah, I know. It took awhile for him to warm up to anyone, including me.”

She stood up and walked over to Jared and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I like you Jared. I just want you to know that I’m okay with this. You are the best thing that has happened to him in a long time. He’s lucky.”

“No ma’am. I’m the lucky one.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The following Monday morning, Jared snuck out and hitched a ride to the hospital. He knew that it wouldn’t take long for others to realize he was gone, but he didn’t care. The day before, Jensen had moved his hand. He still hadn’t opened his eyes, but Jared knew that wasn’t far behind. He didn’t want to miss it.

As soon as he reached the hospital, he walked in the doors and up to the ICU. He checked in at the nurse’s station. He had to wait for Dr. Kripke to come down before he could go into the room. Since he had been released, they were a lot more restricting on his access.

When the doctor arrived, they walked to Jensen’s room. Jensen’s eyes were still closed, but Jared noticed that his head had changed position. As he walked closer, he saw that Jensen was actually moving his head from side to side slightly. He went back to the door and called down the hall to the nurse’s station. He then went back to the bed and grabbed on to Jensen’s hand.

Dr. Kripke called for a couple of nurses. He went to the other side of the bed. When the nurses arrived they headed to the foot of the bed.

“Call for his mother. I believe she is down in the cafeteria.”

“Is this it? Is he waking up?”

“It looks like he’s trying. Just keep talking to him.”

Jared continued to squeeze Jensen’s hand, which he squeezed back.

“Come on, dude. Just open your eyes. Yeah, that’s it. Just open your eyes.” Jared continued almost like a chant.

Jensen’s mother walked into the room then. She asked, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“He’s waking up!” Jared looked at her with a huge smile on his face.

It was a few minutes later that Jensen finally cracked his eyes open. He blinked a few times and then opened them fully. The doctor leaned forward and shined his pen light in his eyes. Jensen tried to move his head away.

“Jensen, can you talk to me? Do you know where you are?”

Jensen moved his lips, but was unable to speak above a whisper. Jared leaned in and put his ear up to his mouth. Jensen tried to speak again. When Jared heard what he said he smiled and then chuckled.

“What did he say?” asked Mrs. Ackles.

“He said, ‘Stupid question…hospital.’” Jared couldn’t help but laugh some more. Everyone else joined in this time.

“Good, he’s aware. That’s a great sign.”

At that moment, Jensen reached up and pointed at his throat. Jared grabbed the cup of ice chips off the table and put one in Jensen’s mouth. Jensen smiled and slowly gave them thumbs up.

“I want to check his reflexes.”

He pulled his pen light back out of his pocket and moved to the foot of the bed. He pulled the sheet up to expose his feet. He then ran the light up the center of each foot. When both of his feet reacted, he put the light away and looked up.

“Looks like there is little to no paralysis. That’s great.”

Jared looked down at Jensen and smiled. “Ya here that? You’re gonna be just fine.”

Jensen spoke, a little louder this time. “Paralysis?”

The doctor looked him in the eyes and spoke.

“When you got shot, one of the bullets lodged next to your spinal cord and caused some swelling. We were worried that you might suffer some paralysis due to that swelling. It appears that our worst fears have not come true.”

Mrs. Ackles turned to the doctor and to Jared. “Can we have some time alone?”

Dr. Kripke looked from Jared to Mrs. Ackles and then said, “Sure. I’ll be back in a little while to check on your progress.”

“Thank you doctor.”

“I’ll be right outside,” Jared said, then walked out the door.

The doctor and nurses walked out of the room and closed the door behind them.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BH&RS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

His mother looked down at Jensen and smiled.

“Mom? What are you doing here? Dad said…”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s no longer an issue.”

“What do you mean?”

“We had it out shortly after you talked to him. Then when this happened…” She got quiet and looked away.

“I still don’t want anything to do with him. It’s just too much to deal with.”

“That’s okay. He’s agreed to keep his distance, and your brother, sister, and I can visit whenever we want.”

Jensen looked into her eyes. There were tears there that he just couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“I’m scared.” The tears broke loose at that.

She squeezed his hand. “It’ll be okay. Just let it go.”

He cried for a few minutes, then tried to compose himself.

“I want to see Jared.”

“Okay, honey. I’ll go get him.”

She got up and walked out the door. A moment later, Jared walked in. He slowly walked over to the chair and sat down. He could tell that Jensen was in pain.

“Are you feeling okay? Do you need me to get the doctor?”

“No, Jared. Not yet.”

“Okay. Just let me know if you need me to.”

“How long was I out?”

“A month…”

Jensen closed his eyes and tried to absorb the information he had just been given.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just hard to believe. Everything that happened…Oh God! Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah, everyone’s fine. The gunmen and Cali are dead.”

“How ‘bout you?”

“I’m good. A little sore, but it’ll be fine.”

“Why are you sore? What happened?”

Jared sat in the chair next to the bed and for the next hour told him about everything that had happened since he had been shot. By the time Jared finished, his eyes had begun to water. He got choked up and had to stop talking.

“What is it? You okay?”

“Yeah…I was just so scared that I’d never get to see you again, or talk to you again. I really thought I’d lost you that night back at school.”

“I’m gonna be okay. I do have to admit that wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had. I just couldn’t stand the thought of them hurting you. It sent me over the edge. I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. I guess I’m more like my father than I thought.”

“Don’t talk like that. You are still nothing like your father. They deserved whatever happened to them.”

“Yeah…”

Dr. Kripke chose that moment to walk back into the room.

“Jared, there’s someone here that says you’re supposed to be in class right now. He doesn’t look too happy.”

“Jared, did you sneak out, again?”

“Um…yeah…” He smiled down at Jensen again.

Morgan walked into the room, and stood silently as Jensen looked over at him with a smile on his face.

“Jensen!” He was at a loss for words.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Great to see you awake, boy. You really had us all worried.”

“Yeah, I get the picture.”

“I’ll leave the three of you alone, to catch up.”

All three said at once, “Thanks doc.”

He left the room with a smile on his face.


	5. Epilogue

Graduation day came in mid-May. Jensen had been out of the hospital for a little over a month. He had worked as hard as he could and managed to catch back up with the rest of his classmates. Everything was looking up. He was also excited that his family would be at graduation. It had been about a month since he’d seen them.

Jared was also graduating, having worked his butt off to get his grades up. He didn’t have to work nearly as hard as he had anticipated. He was surprised to find out that he had mostly Cs in all his classes, except for math, which was an A.

After months of nothing, he finally heard from his parents. Like usual, they wouldn’t be coming to see him, but he found out that his younger sister would be there. He hadn’t seen her since he had been sent to Garden Ridge.

Chris was also graduating, despite his attempts to fail all his classes. His family was proud of him, and they were all there to celebrate.

Everyone was excited to see Steve. After everything that had happened, his parent’s had kept him out of GRP and enrolled him in another school closer to home. They hadn’t wanted him to go to the graduation, but he insisted.

All the families had gathered, and Dean Morgan and the Headmaster were up on the stage. When Jensen’s name was called, the entire crowd and student body cheered. When Jared walked across the stage, he got a standing ovation.

When it was all over, everyone met back up with their family and friends. Jared brought his sister over to meet Jensen’s family. They had revealed their relationship to Megan in the days prior, and she had been surprisingly accepting.

The seniors would be clearing out of the dorms the next day, so they would all be spending the night one last time.

Chris had stopped by Jared and Jensen’s room before he headed back to his own to finish packing.

“I can’t believe we did it. We’re free!” Chris said.

“Yeah, and we are all more or less in one piece.” Jensen smirked. They all chuckled at the statement.

“Yeah…”

“Well, guys, I’ll see y’all in the morning. I’ve still got packing to do, and y’all look like y’all need time to yourselves. Oh yeah, Jensen, I’ve got something of yours. I kept forgetting to give it back to you. A lot’s happened.”

Chris handed him a notebook. It was the same notebook he had picked up that night Jensen had been shot.

“I figured you might want to finish what you started.”

After Chris left the room, Jensen opened up the notebook. He looked at the picture he had drawn, and the unfinished song.

“Wow, I had forgotten about this.”

“I hadn’t. Thank you. They are beautiful.”

“The song is cheesy. It’s not even finished.”

“I love it…and I love you!”

Jensen looked Jared in the eyes and said, “I love you too.”

 **The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a link to the artwork that accompanies the fic: [Check it out!](http://an-inside-job.livejournal.com/287851.html)
> 
> I'd first like to say that this is the longest anything that I've ever written.
> 
> So, the idea for this thing came about in a series of coincidences. The movie itself is one that I've loved ever since I first saw it back in '91. It's one of those movies that whenever it's on TV, I have to sit and watch the whole thing.
> 
> About a month or so before the sign-up, someone somewhere on my flist made a post about the movie and it's two main characters, and how slashy their relationship was. This made me see the movie in a whole other light. Also, around that time, I just happened to catch the movie on TV. It had been a long time since I'd seen it. That is when the idea for this fic came to me.
> 
> In the movie, the character of Joey Trotta dies when he is shot by the terrorists. I went round and round about this fact, and how I should approach it in the fic. The way I went with it turned out for the best as it gave me a direction to go in the last third. I rather like the way it turned out, and I hope that y'all do as well.


End file.
